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E N Grossman, Prmta: 



PICTORIAL 



ANCIENT HISTORY 



OF THE 



WORLD, 



THE EARLIEST AGES TO THE DEATH OF CONSTANTINE THE GliEAT, 



-> 



^ 



J 




BY JOllN^llOST, LL.D. 

PROFESSOR Of BELLES LETTRES IK I 11 E HIGH S C JI O O L OF 1' U 1 L A D E L P Ji I A. 



PHILADELPHIA : 

WALKER & G I L L I S. 

1 846. 



Enlercd according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1845, by 

JOHN FROST, 

In the oflice of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States, in and for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 



FT 3 



B. M. DDSEHBERT, STEREOTTPEB. 
S. N. OBOSSMAN, PRINTER. 



z I r 




A General History has been said to resemble a map of the 
world. It shows the comparative importance and the various rela- 
tions of the different parts of history to each other, as the map pre- 
sents to the eye the relative positions and extent of the various 
countries in the world, and presents in a single view the result of 
numberless researches continued through many ages. A Pictorial 
History has the additional advantage of displaying the various cha- 
racters, costumes, events, and places which have become celebrated 
in the course of time, and imprinting them strongly on the reader's 
memory. It has been my purpose in the present work to fulfil these 
objects as completely as the limits, originally proposed, would permit. 
In accomplishing this task, I have had recourse to the works of the 
best historical writers and artists within my reach. 

In preparing the history of Egypt, I have availed myself of the 
recent discoveries of Champollion and his disciples, which have 
thrown great light upon the early ages of the world, and afforded 
additional confirmation to the records of the Sacred Scriptures. In 
the Grecian history my principal guide has been the learned and 
accomplished Thirlwall, whose history of Greece is undoubtedly the 
best which has appeared. Niebuhr and Arnold have been my chief 
authorities in the Roman history, their bold and startling revelations 
respecting the early Roman traditions having received, for the most 
part, the sanction of the reading world. In every part of the work 



'Vlil PREFACE. 

I have derived great assistance from the recently pubUshed " Manual" 
of Dr. Taylor, whose lucid method and happy art of condensation 
are not less remarkable than his vigorous style. 

As the hmits of the first volume would not permit a satisfactory 
notice of ancient China and India, I have deferred that portion of the 
history to the second volume, in which those countries will receive 
their due share of attention. 

It will be perceived that, in the embellishments of the work, I 
have been under the necessity of copying many of the pictures of 
European artists ; presuming that the designs of Raphael, Le Brun, 
Poussin, and the best modern painters of Europe, would be not less 
acceptable to the readers of a " Pictorial History of the World," than 
those of our native artists. Where designs pertinent to the subjects 
could not easily be found, the ready and fertile pencil of my friend 
Croomb has supplied the deficiency. 

The extreme difficulty and great expense of executing this part 
of the work in an elegant style, can only be appreciated by those 
who have actually attempted something of the same kind. It is gra- 
tifying, however, to find that the general execution of the work has 
met with the public approbation — a fact of which the kind notices of 
the periodical press, and the large subscription-list, aflford ample evi- 
dence. It is also gratifying to learn that the " Pictorial History of 
the World" has already been adopted as a text-book in many of our 
most respectable seminaries of education ; and, in noticing this fact, I 
would take the liberty to remark, that the student who may use this 
work as a text-book will find his comprehension of the subject 
greatly facilitated by using, in connexion with it, the excellent 
" Ancient Geography and Atlas" of Mr. Mitchell, which has recently 
been published in this city. 



PREFACE. 



IX 



The condensed form which my narrow hmits have compelled me 
to adopt in this history, has rendered it impossible to give extended 
disquisitions on the various subjects which present themselves in the 
course of the narrative. To give the facts ; to bring forward the 
important characters and events, and notice briefly their relations and 
bearings ; to delineate only the most striking and prominent features 
of history ; to sketch without colouring and to narrate without phi- 
losophizing, was all that I could attempt with any hope of success. 
The readers of this sketch, however, will have less to regret in this 
circumstance, at a time when so many new and accomplished writers 
are engaged in filling up the general outline, by furnishing able, 
minute, and eloquent histories of their respective countries ; and 
the author will consider his own humble duty well performed, if his 
work shall inspire in his readers so strong a desire for more full and 
particular historical information, as can only be satisfied by having 
recourse to the voluminous works of Champollion, Thirlwall, Nie- 
buhr, Arnold, Kohlrausch, Thierry, Sismondi, Michelet, and a host 
of other writers who have recently entered the field of historical 
inquiry. 




Vol. I.- 




Preface Page vii 

Introduction. — Early Ages of the World 19 

CHAPTER I. EGYPT. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline 23 

II. — Political and Social Condition of the Egyptians 31 

III. — History of Ancient Egypt, from Menes to Psammetichus 39 

IV. — History of Egypt, from Psammetichus to the Invasion of Alexander the Great 71 

CHAPTER II. ETHIOPIA. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline 81 

II. — History of the Ethiopians 88 

CHAPTER III. BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline, Political and Social Condition 96 

II. — History of the Babylonians and Assyrians 102 

CHAPTER IV. ASIA MINOR. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline 107 

II. — History of Asia Minor HI 

(11) 



xu CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. SYRIA. 

Section I. — Geogiapiiical Outline. — Political and Social Condition, Cununcroe and Manufac- 
tures, and Colonial Possessions of the Syrians 117 

II. — History of the Syrians and Phccnicians 124 

CHAPTER VI. PALESTINE. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline 126 

II. — History of Palestine 128 

CHAPTER VII. PERSIA. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline — Political and Social Condition 140 

II. — Plistory of Persia 145 

CHAPTER VIII. CARTHAGE. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline — Political and Social Condition 157 

II. — History of Carthage IGO 

CHAPTER IX. GREECE. 

Section I. — Geographical Outline, Political and Social Condition of Ancient Greece . . . 1G7 
II. — History of Greece 175 

CHAPTER X. THE STATES THAT ROSE FROM THE DISMEMBERMENT 
OF THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. 

Section I. — Macedon and Greece 240 

XL — Syria and Egypt 248 

III. — The Minor Kingdoms of Asia 259 

CHAPTER XI. ANCIENT ITALY AND SICILY. 

Section I. — Geographical OutHne 2C9 

II. — Ancient Inhabitants of Italy 273 

III. — History of Sicily 277 

CHAPTER XII. HISTORY OF ROME. 

Section I. — From the Foundation of the City to the Establishment of the Empire . . . 280 
II. — History of the Roman Empire 349 

CHAPTER Xin. 
Ancient Literature 365 




TITLB P AQE 

18. THE DELUGE 

19. NOAH DIVIDING THE EARTH 

22. PYRAMID ..... 

23. HEAD-PIECE .... 

26. ISLAND OP PHIL^ 

27. ANC I E NT TE M P LE ATTHEBE3 

32. PAPTRQS 

34. EGYPTIAN SOLDIE RS . 

35. EGYPTIAN WAR CHARIOT 

33. ABOUEIB. 

3 9 . RUINS 

39.6PHINX 

46. TRIUMPH OP JOSEPH 

48. AMOUNOPTI. 

51. LAKE MCERIS .... 

54. HORUa 

55. MENEPHTAH I. . 

56. TRIBUTE- BE ARE RS 

57. RAMSES III 

59. MOSES KILLING THE EGYPTIAN 

61. DEATH OP THE FIRST-BORN . 

6 4 . BAMSE S I V 

6 5 . RAMS ES IX. 

6 6 . SHESnONK ..... 

67. DAUGHTER OP PHARAOH 

68. TAJRAKA 

69. OFFERING OP PSAMMETICHUS 

70. GREAT TEMPLE AT EDFOU 

71. ALEXANDRIA .... 

7 2 . NITOCRIS ..... 

80. SCULPTURE AT ABOO SIMBEL 

81. TROGLODYTES .... 
85. PYRAMIDS OP MEROE 

87. SCENE IN MEROE . 

88. ANCIENT STATUE 
90. TEMPLKOPSEMNEH 

96. niRS NEMROUD • • . • 



Painters. 
V7 . C ROOME 
D A NBY 
W. C R O O M E 



W , O ROOME 
W. HOSKINS 
■W . C R O O M E 

■W. HOSKINS 
W. C ROD ME . 



Engravtrrs. 
ROBE HTS. 
F . W AITT. 

T. devered: 



B. F. W A ITT. 

Q. T. DEVEREDX. 

W . C ROOM E . 

Q. T. DEVERED X. 

B . P. W AITT. 



G. T. DEVEREUX. 

B. F. TV A ITT. 

G. T. DE VE REUX . 

B . F . TV A I T T . 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

B. P. V? AITT. 

0. T. DEVEREDS. 



B . F . W A I T T 
W . ROBE RTS . 
B . F. W A I T T . 

Q. T. DEVEREUX, 

B . F . W A I T T . 

O. T. DEVEREUX. 

■W. C RO OM E . 

a . T. DEVEREUX. 

\V , C R O O M E . 

O. T. DEVEREUX. 
W . C R O O M E . 



(13) 



XIV 



LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 



101 T0V7ZS, OF BABEL .... 

102. NINEVEH 

106. belshazzah's feast 

107. PLAINS OF TROr .... 
109. TEMPLE OF EPHESUS .... 
111. SOLON BEFORE O R CE S U S 

111. THE TROJAN HORSE .... 

112. DEATH OF HECTOR .... 
115. DEATH OF ATTS ..... 
117. B A ALB EC . . . . . 

123 . PALMYRA ...... 

124. DAMASCUS ...... 

12 5. TYRE 

126. MOUNT ZION 

128 SAMARIA (SEBASTE) .... 

131. JEPHTHAH ...... 

133. JUDGMENT OF SOLOMON 

139. DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM 

141. PERSEPOLIS ...... 

145. TRIBUTE OF EARTH AND WATER 

149. COUNCIL OF GREEK CHIEFS 

151. SQUADRON OF GSEEE SHIPS 

152. BURNING OP SARDI3 

155. BATTLE OF CUNAXA 

156. ALEXANDER VISITING DARIUs's FAMIL 

157. ANCIENTARMOUR 

159. OATH OF HANNIBAL .... 

160. BURNING OP CARTHAGE 
10 2. SYRACUSE 

165. APPIUS CLAUDIUS DEFEATING THE CA] 
THAGINIANS 

167. GRECIAN TEMPLE .... 

168. CORINTH 

169. MOUNT TATGETUS .... 
171.PYLUS 

173. ISLAND OF OYTHERA 

174. RHODES 

175. SCULPTURE PIECE 

179. JASON . 

180. TEMPLE OF THESEUS 

182 . HOME R 

184. SACRIFICE TO JUPITER AT OLYMPIA 

186. LYCURQUS AND THE EPHORI 

187. LYCURGUS CONSULTING THE ORACLE 
189. MOUNT ITHOME ..... 
191. DEATH OF C0DRU3 .... 

193. PNYX 

194. GATE OF THE AGORA 

197. THE MESSENGER FROM MARATHON 

199. TUMULUS AT MARATHON 

203. THE ATHENIANS RETREATING TO THE 

SHIPS 

205. BATTLE OFS A LAMIS . 

207. BANISHMENT OF THEMISTOOLES 

210. ANAXAG0RA3 ...... 

212. PF, RICLE3 



Painters. 
V7 . C ROOME . . 

G. T DEVEREUS 
W . C R O O M E 
SIR W. CELL 
S. S L y 
W. C ROOM E 

■W. HARVEY 
■W . ROOME . 
G. T. DEVERE 



POUS SIN . , 

■W. CKOOME 

G. T. DEVEREU 

WILLIAMS 

W. HA RV E Y 

S A RGE NT 

W. C ROOM E 

WILLIAMS 

W . ROOME 

T. DEVI LLY 

W. CROOME 

R A F F E T 



SARGENT 
B A G O 

SARGENT . 
■W . H ARV E Y 
Q. T. DEVERS 



SARGENT 

FROM A BUS 

SARGENT 

WILLIAMS 

W. HARVEY 

SARGENT 

W. CROOME 

SARGENT 

I RTO N . 

CONDER 

IRTON 

PINELLI . 

W. C ROOME 

PINELLI . 

SARGENT 

FROM AN ANTIQUE 



Enjrnvers. 
G . T . DE V E REU X. 

W . ROBERTS. 
B . F. CHILD. 
B . P . W^ A I T T 
G. T. DEVEREU3. 

LO S S IN G . 

E . F . W A I T T . 

G. T. D E V E REUX. 

B. F. W AITT. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

B . F. W AITT . 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

W. ROBERTS. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

B. F. WAITT. 

LO S S INO . 

G. WHITE. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

B . F. WAITT. 

H. HARRISON. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

H. HARRISON. 

B . F. "WAITT. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

B . F. "OT AITT. 

L O S S I N G. 

N. B. D E VE REU X. 

W . CROOME. 

B . F. WAITT. 

J . D O W N E S. 

O . T. DE VE REUX. 

G. WHITE. 

J. D OTV NE S. 

W. CROOME. 

B. F. WAITT. 

R. H . PEASE. 

B. F. "WAITT. 

L O S S I N G . 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

B. F. "WAITT. 

G. T D EVE REUX. 

3. F. "WAITT. 

G. T. DEVERE UX. 

"W. ROBERTS. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 



LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 



XV 



214. AI.CIBIA.DES RESCDED 

216. ALCIDIADES 

217. THSRAMENES DRAGOED FROM THE AL- 

TAR 

218. TRIAL OF SOCRATES 

219. DEATH OP SOCRATES .... 
224. BATTLE OF CniERONEA . 
226. BATTLE OF THE ORANI0O3 
230. ALEXANDER ENTERINO BABYLON 
233. DEFEAT OF PORtJS .... 
237. DEATH OF DEMOSTHENES 
239. GREEK ARMOUR ..... 
241. TEMPLE OF MINERVA 

241. ERECTHEUM 

243. VIEW OF ATHENS .... 

246. BURNING OF CORINTH 

247. GREEK ARMOUR AND FURNITURE 

248. ANTIOCH ....... 

250. BATTLE OF 1PSU3 .... 

251. BATTLE OF RAPHIA .... 

258. GREEK ARMOUR 

2 59. ASC ALON . 

260. ■WALLS OF ATHENS .... 

263.PETRA 

269. THE TIBER ..... 

269. ARCH OF HORATIUS COCLES 

2 7 7. CATANIA ...... 

280. HEAD-PIECE, ROMULUS AND REMUS 

285. COMBAT OF THE HORATII AND CURIATI] 

290. DEATH OF LUCRETIA .... 

294. OORIOLANUS ..... 

297. DEATH OF VIRGINIA .... 

299. ROMAN CONSUL 

300. ROMAN SOLDIERS .... 

301. RETREAT OF THE ROMAN ARMY . 

302. STREET IN ANCIENT ROME RESTORED 

304. TARPEIAN ROCK .... 

305. ROMAN GENERAL 

310. GLADIATORIAL COMBAT. 

312. PROTV OF A ROMAN GALLEY 

314. RETURN OF REGULUS 

318. DEATH OF ARCHIMEDES . 

323. SCIPIO HARANGUING 

324. SIEGE OF NUMANTIA .... 
326. FORUM RESTORED .... 
328. DEATH OP GRACCHUS 
331. MARIU3 AND THE ASSASSIN 

334. Q. CU3IU3 DISCLOSING THE CONSPI- 

RACY 

335. CESAR EMBARKING FOR BRITAIN 

336. POMPEY THE GREAT 

337. JULIUS C-ESAR ..... 
339. CATO ABOUT TO KILL HIMSELF 
341. DEATH OF CESAR .... 

3 4 2. PLAINS OF pniLirn 



Painters. 

WILLIAMS 
CFSOM AN i 
( BUST 



SARGENT 
■WILLIAMS 



S A R O.E N T 
LE BRU N 



CHEVALIER 
T. DEVILLY 
8 ARGE NT 

f. aru nd a lb 

F. BLUNT . . 
T. DEVILLY 

G. T. DEVEREUK 

WILLIAMS 

T. DEVILLY 

Q . T. DE V E RH UK 

SARGENT 

DIOKE S 

L. BRETON 
G. T. DE VE REUK 
■W . HARVEY 
LEBARBIER . . 
■W. HARVEY 
LEBARBIER . . 

QUILLON LBTHIEI 

PLAN CHE. 

B AFFE T . . 
A. POYNTE R . . 

PLAN CHE . . 

A. PO Y NTE R 
MO RE AU . . . 
■W. C RO O M E . 
R AFFE T 
"W. CROOME 
A. POYNTE R 
■W. C ROO ME. 
D ROU AIS . . . 

W . CROOME . 

R A F F E T 

CAM UC C I NI . 

■W. CROOM E . 

R A FFET 

■W. H ARV E Y . 



Engravera. 
B. r. WAITT. 

'I 

> a . T. DE VE RE OK. 

B. S. GILBERT. 
W. ROBERTS. 
W. CROOME. 
H. KINNERSLEY. 

H. HARRISON. 

W. ROBERTS. 

G . T. DE V E REU X . 

MINOT. 

G. T. DEVERBU2:. 

LO S S IN G, 

B. F. ■WAITT. 

G. T. DEVEREU2. 

B. P. ■WAITT. 

G. WHITE. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

J. DO W NES. 

G. T. DE VEREUK. 



. C ROOM E . 

ANDS RSON. 

KINN E RSLB Y . 
. ROBERTS. 

F. WAITT. 

T. DEVEREUX. 

CROOME. 

H. PEASE. 

F . CHILD. 
CROOME. 

WHITE. 

B. D E VE REU X. 

F. WAITT. 



■WHITE. 

T. DEVSBBUX. 

F. CHILD. 

ROBERTS. 



R. H. PEASE. 

■W . C ROOME. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

H. K INNE RS LE Y. 

R. H. PEASE. 

B. F. CHILD. 



XVI 



LIST OF EMBELLISHMENTS. 



343. Cleopatra's baroe 

345. battle of actit3m .... 

347. antony and cleopatra 

348. promontory of acthjm 

349. head-piece 

350. the pantheon 

361. tiberius in germany . 

353. death of britannic08 

355. colosseum 

357. PALACE OF THE C .ffl S A R S . 

358. SEVSRUS DISARMINS T H E PK.B TO R I A N S 
361. CONSTANTINE DEPBATINO MAXENTID3 

364. PRESENT APPEARANCE OF THE FORUM 

365. DEMOSTHENES 

365. ORNAMENTAL LETTER ... 

366. TAIL-PIECE 



Fainten. 

FAIRHOLT 
•W. C ROOM E 
FAIRHOLT 



VAUDOYER 
RA F F E T 
•TO-. CKOOME 
L. B RETON 



AM JO LINa . 
R AFFAE LLE 
PIRANESI . 
W. C ROOME 
Q. T. DE VB RBU X 



Engravers. 

B. F. C H ILD. 

B. F. WAITT. 

R. H. PEASE . 

G. T. Da-VEREUX. 

O . -TO- H I T S . 

R. H. PEASE. 

•W. ROBERTS. 

0. Wn ITE. 

O. T. DEVEREUX. 

B. F. 'TO' alTT. 

■TO. ROBERTS. 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 

■TO. C ROOME . 

G. T. DEVEREUX. 



"""^l 
f^-^'^ 







HERE is among the various records which profess to 
crive a history of the earUest ages of the world, none 
upon which we can rely with confidence except the 
Sacred Scriptures. While the other primeval annals 
m ,..,'/«,.,. TAW „.,.™ww,r.,™-, ».,."/-.^«..r.. at'e disfigured with fables so monstrous as at once to 
discredit their authority, and are utterly unsupported by corroborative testimony, 
the Bible commands our belief by the severe simplicity of its narrative ; and its 
testimony to historical fiicts is confirmed by its coincidence with all authentic 
records, all monumental remains, and all ethnographical evidence. As historical 
science advances, the scripture narrative becomes more profoundly respected. 
Each year, as it rolls on, brings additional confirmation of its truth. Every 
traveller that returns from the East tells us of some popular custom which has 
remained unchanged since the days of the patriarchs, or some ancient monument 
which recognizes the kings of Holy Writ ; until at length it has become far 
more difficult for the enlightened inquirer to withhold than to express his belief 

__ , ^1 ITT 111 T r 



in these venerable records of the World's Infnncy. 



(10) 



20 EARLY AC. ES OF THE WORLD. 

To the Bible, then, we must go in order to learn the origin of the earth and 
its inhabitants. It is there only that we can find any account of what passed in 
the centuries which preceded the Deluge ; and surely mankind may be well 
content that the earhest records of the race are written in the simple and sublime 
words of Genesis. 

B. C. 4004.] It is from this sacred record we learn that " in the beginning 
God created the heaven and the earth ;" that the first man was formed of the dust 
of the earth and placed in the Garden of Eden ; that he fell from his original 
state of uprightness by transgressing the divine command, and was consequently 
expelled from the blissful abode which had been assigned to him by his Maker. 
Here also we learn that after his fall, Adam had two sons, Cain and Abel, the 
former of whom slew his brother from jealousy at the acceptance of his sacrifice by 
the Creator, while his own was rejected ; and that in this fearful form death first 
entered the world. It is in the few verses of Genesis, which contain the only 
history extant of the antediluvian ages, that we find notices of the founders of the 
primary occupations of mankind. Here we recognize Adam as the primitive gar- 
dener, Cain as the husbandman, Abel as a shepherd, and Jabal as a nomade. Here 
also we read of the inventors of some of the useful and fine arts — Tubal-cain " an 
instructor of every artificer in brass and iron," and .Tubal " the father of all such 
as handle the harp and organ." The same venerable record informs us that with 
the increase of knowledge came the increase of moral depravity, until the period 
of the Deluge, when all were swept away save Noah and his family, who were 
preserved in the Ark. It is generally admitted that the Mount Ararat on which 
the ark rested is one of the loftiest peaks in Armenia. 

In the tenth chapter of the Book of Genesis, we find the names of the prin- 
cipal descendants of Noah, who became the patriarchs of nations, spreading 
themselves over the world and founding the various families of men among whom 
it was divided. Though this chapter in the time of Moses probably conveyed 
definite information to its readers, the great lapse of time renders it difficult at the 
present day to determine what nations and tribes owe their origin to the persons 
specified. All research into the subject has been guided by the clue afforded 
by the similarity or identity of names; it being generally conceded that the 
nation was called after the name of the founder. But a liability to gross and fatal 
mistakes is involved in this process ; for the names, by which many nations and 
tribes were originally called, have been lost, and other names similar to those of the 
first founders of nations have been obtained perhaps accidentally by tribes of com- 
paratively recent origin. It has also been conjectured that many of the names of 
people and countries were peculiar to the Jews themselves, no trace of them being 
found in other countries. But amidst all these sources of error, something, more 
than probable, has been ascertained through the researches of Bochart, Calmet, 
Joseph Meile, Dr. Wells, Sir Wilham Jones, Mr. Faber, and Dr. Hales. To the 
writings of these learned authors we must refer those who wish to investigate the 
subject in detail. 



EARLY AGES OF THE WORLD. 21 

The ancient fathers were of opinion that the distribution of mankind was not 
left lo be settled at random, but that a formal division of the world, as known to 
him, was made by Noah, the sole proprietor, among his three sons, a considerable 
time before any migrations were made. They suppose Noah to have acted in 
this case by divine direction. This hypothesis is strongly favoured by mere 
probability ; and though many writers have discountenanced it, it is adopted by 
Dr. Hales, who quotes the striking passages, Deut. xxxii, 7 — 9, and Acts xvii, 26, 
as tending strongly to support it. According to an Armenian tradition, quoted 
by Abulfaragi, Noah, a considerable time before any actual migrations from 
this place of original settlement, distributed the habitable globe, from north to 
south, among his sons ; giving to Ham the region of the blacks ; to Shem the 
region of the tawny ; and to Japheth the region of the ruddy. Abulfaragi 
dates the actual division of the earth, B. C. 2614, being 541 years after the 
Flood, and 191 years after the death of Noah. This tradition is interesting and 
curious, because it tends, in general, to confirm the views which the most com- 
petent European inquirers had been led to entertain, as to the allotments which 
fell to the share of the three brothers. These are stated by Abulfaragi to be 
as follows : 

To the sons of Shem was allotted the middle region of the earth ; namely, 
Palestine, Syria, Assyria, Samaria (Singar or Shinar), Babel (or Babylonia), 
Persia, and Hegiaz (Arabia). 

To the sons of Ham, Teiman (or Idumeia, Jer. xli. 7.), Africa, Nigritia, 
Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, Scindia, and India (or India east and west of the river 
Indus). 

To the sons of Japheth, Garbia (the north), Spain, France, the countries 
of the Greeks, Sclavonians, Bulgarians, Turks, and Armenians. 

The only serious difference between this distribution and that which European 
writers have agreed to consider the most probable is that the Armenian statement 
assigns India to Ham, while the European account rather gives it to Shem. 

We conclude this branch of the subject with some important remarks of Dr. 
Hales on the general distribution, according to the Armenian account. " In this 
curious and valuable geographical chart, Armenia, the cradle of the human race, 
was allotted to Japheth by right of primogeniture ; and Samaria and Babel to the 
sons of Shem : the usurpation of these regions, therefore, by Nimrod, and of 
Palestine, by Canaan, was in violation of the divine decree. Though the migra- 
tion of the primitive families began at this time, B. C. 2614, or about 541 years 
after the Deluge, it was a long time before they all reached their respective 
destinations. The seasons as well as the boundaries of their respective appoint- 
ments were equally the appointment of God : the nearer countries to the original 
settlement being planted first, and the remoter in succession. These primitive 
settlements seem to have been scattered and detached from each other, according 
to local convenience. Even so late as the tenth generation after the Flood, in the 
time of Abraham, there were considerable tracts of land in Palestine unappro- 



22 



EARLY AGES OF THE WORLD. 



printed, on which he and his nephew Lot freely pastured their cattle without 
hindrance or molestation. 

One of the sons of Ham, called Mizraim or Misr, settled with his family in 
Egypt ; hence the Egyptians are always called Mizraim or Mizraites in the Eible, 
and the country itself is generally known in the East as the " land of Mizr."* As 
it is in this country that we first find a government and political institutions 
established, although India and China claim as early a date for theirs, w^e shall 
commence our history with this ancient seat of literature and science. 

* No proper name of an individual in Hebrew ever terminates in im, which is the plural 
form. Mizraim is evidently the name of a family or tribe, taking name from the second son 
of Ham, who was probably called Misr ; and who is generally allowed to have settled with 
his family in Egypt. The restoration of the ancient name, " the land of Misr," is due to 
the Arabs, on whose part in the preservation of the primitive names of places, Prideaiix makes 
the following important remark : — " These people being the oldest nation in the world, and 
who have never been by any conquest dispossessed, or driven out of their country ; but have 
always remained here in a continual descent from the first planters until this day ; and beino- 
also as little given to alterations in their manners and usages as in their country, have still 
retained the names of places which were first attached to them : and on these aboriginal 
people acquiring the empire of the East, they restored the original names to many cities after 
they had been lost for ages under the arbitrary changes of successive conquerors." The 
importance given to existing Arabic names in attempting to fix the sites of ancient places, is 
thus accounted for. 





'<^^^s^'>^-y'^=-:^_j^!^y 



CHAPTER I. 

EGYPT. 

S E C T I O N I . 

S'i ir 3 r a p -I) i cfl 3 © *a X I '\ i\ ? . 

CYPT is described as consisting of the long and 
narrow valley of the Nile, extending from Syene, a 
town of Thebais, in latitude 24^ 5', 23" N. about six 
handled miles to Cairo, near the site of Memphis, 
sometimes called Old Misr, about fifteen miles south 
of the Apex of the Delta. The Mediterranean 

_^ washes its northern coast, and the Red Sea and 

Arabia, with which it is joined by the Isthmus of Suez, bound it on the east ; 
whilst Ethiopia, Marmarica, and the Lybian desert inclose it on the south and 
west. The NiJe was formerly worshipped by the inhabitants as a tutelary deity, 
and not without reason, for deprived of its fertilizing influence, the country would 
be a desert. Three mountain barriers are surmounted by the river in its course 
previous to entering Upper Egypt, the most violent cataract being in Turkish 



24 



EGYPT. 



Nubia, and the last at Syene, where the stream enters the country. From thai 
place to Cairo it flows through a valley about eight miles wide, the banks varying 
in fertility as the river advances. Near Cairo, the valley is widened by the 
diverging direction of the two chains of mountains, one running north-west 
towards the Mediterranean, the other east of Suez. Some distance to the north 
of Cairo, the river is divided into two branches, which diverge from each other 
and empty into the Mediterranean at the cities of Damietta and Rosetta. Between 
these two branches is contained the present Delta. That this triangular island 
was much larger formerly than it is at the present day, is evident from the simi- 
larity of the surface, fertility and productions of the Delta and the land in its 
neighbourhood, and the depression of the latter in comparison wdth the adjoining 
desert. 

Depositions of mud from the Nile form almost the whole productive soil of 
Egypt; the Delta especially, being composed exclusively of alluvial earth and 
sand. Where the natural inundation ceased, art was resorted to for the purpose 
of conveying the water to a greater distance, and hence resulted the canals and 
machinery, the remains of some of which are still found. Ancient Egypt was 
famous for its fertility, and, in consequence of its independence of rain, produced 
large crops, whilst dearths and famine distressed the inhabitants of the neighbouring 
countries. The two seasons into which the year was divided, spring and summer, 
each produced a harvest ; and Egypt at all times furnished supplies of giain to 
other nations. One of the most remarkable productions of Egypt is the Lotus, a 

species of w^ater-lily, which covers the 
canals and pools with its broad leaves 
and azure flowers, on the disappearance 
of the inundations, and the roots of 
which, according to Herodotus and Son- 
nini, are nutritious. The nymphcea 
nelumho, or " sacred heari" of India, was 
also eaten by the ancient Egyptians, and 
it is frequently found carved on the 
monuments. The celebrated Papynis 
and the colocasinm are still cultivated, 
and on the banks of the canals are found 
the acacia, mirnosa, willow, cassia, rose- 
laurel, and other shrubs; Egypt, how- 
ever, is destitute of timbei', all fire-wood 
being imported. 

Owing to (he want of pasturage, 
but few horses are found ; but the animal 
kingdom of Egypt presents great variety. 
Asses, mules, and camels are numerous ; 
jackals and hyenas are common ; but the 



3^r 




-A 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 25 

lion and tiger are totally wanting. There are numerous herds of buffaloes, and 
Earbary sheep are found in Lower Egypt. The gazelle is found in the desert of 
Thebes, and the hippopotamus, the crocodile, and its enemy the ichneumon, 
together with the coluber haje, the emblem of Providence, are seen in Upper Egypt. 

The bed of the Nile, from Syene to Chemnis (or Panopolis), lies in a narrow 
valley, about eight miles in breadth ; this part of the country was called Thebais, 
or Upper Egypt. From Chemnis the valley widens, and the course of the river 
is uninterrupted to Cercasoris, or Eksas ; this forms the second division, Middle 
Egypt. At Cercasoris, the river branches and forms the Delta, or Lower Egypt. 

Rain seldom falls in the Delta, and is almost unknown in the upper divisions ; 
the country being prevented from becoming a desert by the annual overflowing of 
the river. The rains which fall in Upper Ethiopia during the wet season, from 
May to September, are carried into the Nile, which gradually rises from the 
middle of June until it overflows its banks in August. The waters attain their 
greatest height in September, and subside as gradually as they rise. 

During the inundation the whole country appears like an inland sea, in which 
the cities form islands. The eastern side of the valley of the Nile is a moun- 
tainous range, extending to the Red Sea. In this are found inexhaustible quarries 
of marble and building-stone, whence the material for carrying out the architectural 
designs of the ancient inhabitants was procured. From Syene to Latopolis is a 
range of wdiitish or grayish sand-stone rocks, of which the temples of Upper Egypt 
were built. The most northern part of these mountains is composed of calcareous 
rocks, used in the construction of the pyramids. 

The valley of the Nile is bounded on the west by a stony ridge, covered with 
sand, which slopes into the Great Desert. Between the base of the mountains and 
the land suited to tillage, there is a barren sandy strip, varying from one to three 
miles in width, in which the traveller finds innumerable graves and sepulchres, the 
accumulation of a hundred generations. In the desert beyond the hills, there are 
a few fertile spots, or oases, two of which are included in the limits of Egypt by 
ancient geographers. On one of these, celebrated for its fertility and abundant 
springs, was built the temple of Jupiter Ammon, respected both by the Greeks 
and the Egyptians. The most numerous and interesting of the monuments are 
found in Upper Egypt. Beyond the first cataract are found Temple Island, and 
the Island of Syene, anciently the Islands of Philge and Elephantine. In the 
vicinity of Philse there is a small rocky island, sacred to the priests, called by the 
Greeks on that account Ahatos. On this island Isis deposited the remains of 
Osiris, and the name of Temple Island has been given to it by visiters on account 
of the great number of ruined temples and other edifices found there. Elephantine 
was one of the principal depots for the exchange of commodities between the 
Egyptians and the Ethiopians, and is supposed to have once been the capital of 
one of the nomes or districts of Egypt. A little to the north of Syene, we find 
Ombos, also at one time the residence of the ruler of a nome. Silsilis and Elethyia 
are hi its neighbourhood. Farther down we find the village of Edfou, anciently 

Vol. I.— 4 



26 



EGYPT. 



1 



■*?:%-- 



- ^^ms' 




ISLAND OF PHILAE. 



kno^tMi as the great city of Apollo. There is one of the most beautiful temples 
still existing in Egypt. One of the edifices is distinguished for having on its 
columns the figure of Typhon, the emblem of the Evil Principle. 

Proceeding northward, we pass the site of Latopolis (so called from the 
worship of the fish Latos, the largest of the Nile), now an important place in the 
caravan trade from Darfur. Its modern name is Esne. " The mammoth of human 
works," the metropolis of this region of wonders, is next arrived at. Thebes, 
*' the abode of Ammon," (Diospolis), was believed by the Egyptians to have been 
the first city founded upon the earth, and several authors ascribed its origin to 
Osiris. Doctor Anthon considers it, however, as having been " at first a sacer- 
dotal establishment, connected with commercial operations, like so many of the 
early cities of Egypt, and that it gradually attained to its vast dimensions in con- 
sequence of the additions made by successive monarchs." Homer, whose ideas of 
it are probably derived from the exaggerated accounts of PhcEnician merchants, 
regards it in his day as the wonder of the world ; and it continues to be so at the 
present day. As ages rolled on, its importance was diminished by the rise of its 
rival, Memphis, to which everything that could uphold its great population, 
except the seat of religion, was removed. When, at length, Cambyses overthrew 
the priesthood, it rapidly declined, and so early as the time of Diodorus, it was 
in ruins. That author mentions four principal temples and sphinxes, and colossal 
figures, decorating the gateways and porticoes, of such astonishing number, magni- 
tude and proportions, as to insure their duration. The habitations of the dead 
succeed to those of the living, and extend to a considerable distance into the 
western mountains. The city covered the whole breadth of the valley, an area 
of about nine miles on both sides of the river. The monuments on tlie eastern 
bank are all close to the river, the remaining part being occupied by the habita- 
tions of the populace. On the western side was situated the famous colossus of 
Memnon, the palace and temple now called Medinet-Abou, and the temple of 



GEOGRAPHICyVL OUTLliNE. 



27 




RUINS CF AN ANCIENT PALACE AT TUEJJiC! 



Gurnu. These are all covered with a profusion of sculpture, representing scenes 
in Egyptian history. Calculators have assigned eight hundred tons as the weight 
of the largest of these colossal statues, when complete. 

On this side of the river, too, are found the ruins of the Memnonium, con- 
sidered by Champollion as identical with the tomb of Osymandias or Phamenoph, 
mentioned by Diodorus Siculus. The statue of that monarch is still to be seen there, 
though thrown down from its pedestal and broken in pieces. Notwithstanding its 
shattered condition, it is said to be the finest specimen of art which the Memnonium 
contains. Besides this statue, we find two others, called by the Arabs Sharaa and 
Dama, at a little distance from Medinet-Abou towards the Nile. They are about 
fifty-two feet in height, seated upon thrones thirty feet long, eighteen feet broad, 
and eight feet high. The figures are represented in a sitting posture, with the 
hands resting upon the knees. They are on a line with each other, about forty 
feet apart, the most northern one being somewhat larger than the other. This 
was the famous statue said to utter a sound like the snapping of the strings of a 
musical instrument, when the first beams of the rising sun shone on it. 

On the east side of the Nile are the immense ruins commonly denominated 
Luxor and Karnac, adorned with the most beautiful and interesting historical 
sculptures. 

Below Thebes is Tentyra, about half a league from the modern Dendera. 
This city was celebrated for its enmity to Ombos, its people killing the crocodile, 
which was one of the objects of adoration with the inhabitants of the latter city. 



28 EGYPT. 

In it was situated the temple of Isis, one of the largest, most beautiful and best 
preserved edifices in the Thebaid. Until lately it contained the celebrated Zodiac, 
upon the antiquity of which many conjectures had been founded. The date of its 
structure was, however, finally fixed as appertaining to the time of Nero, whose 
name appears appended to it. This reUc was taken down by a French traveller, 
M. Lelorrain, who was twenty days perseveringly engaged in the fatiguing 
operation of cutting it out of the ceiling and lowering it to the ground. It was 
transported down the Nile to Alexandria, and thence shipped to France, where it 
was purchased by the king for one hundred and fifty thousand francs. The stone 
is twelve feet long by eight feet wide, and three feet in thickness. In Middle 
Egypt is foimd the celebrated Lake Moeiis, partly natural and partly artificial in 
its construction. The importance of this lake, as a national work, was immense. 
Being a pei-manent reservoir of water sixty leagues square, it regulated the inunda- 
tions, and destroyed the pernicious effects of the inequality of the tropical rains. 
When the Nile decreased, the lake was shut by dikes and dams, and preserved the 
waters until the month of December. The dikes were then opened, and the waters 
flowed out by two mouths, and these contributed to assure the fertility of the 
Fayoum. It thus supplied the territory of Memphis and a part of Middle Egypt 
in case of an insufficient overflowing, and could prevent the effects of too great an 
inundation by retaining the waters as a grand reservoir. These advantages were 
present to the king who projected this great work of public usefulness ; and history 
has been wise in still applying to the lake the name of its munificent founder.* 
In the fertile district produced by the waters of this lake, stood Arsinoe and the 
famous labyrinth, described by Herodotus and Strabo, in which the great measures 
of war and peace, the state of the national resources, and their employment in the 
development of useful public works and in military enterprises are supposed to 
have been deliberated upon in a great council, composed of all the poM'ers of state, 
king, church, and army. 

The entrance and some of the courts of this edifice were made of white stone 
resembling marble ; and the columns with which several of the corridors were 
adorned, as well as many other parts of the building, were of red granite of Syene. 
It was divided into sixteen parts, according to the number of the nomes of Egypt, 
and contained a temple to each of the deities : and with such remarkable solidity was 
the whole constructed, that time, says Pliny, could not destroy it, though assisted 
by the Heracleopolites, from whose ill-will it sustained considerable damage.f 

The accounts of other ancient authors, however, differ greatly from that 
given by Pliny. Herodotus, who saw the structure itself, assigns to it twelve 
courts ; while Strabo, who also visited it, gives twenty-seven as the number of 
courts. The following sketch, drawn by Dr. Anthon, from these different sources, 
will give an idea of the magnitude and nature of this singular structure. A large 
edifice, divided, most probably, into twelve separate palaces, stretched along with 
a succession of splendid apartments and spacious halls, the whole adorned with 

* Champollion. f Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians. 



G E O G R A P II I C A L O U T L I N E . 29 

columns, gigantic statues, richly carved hieroglyphics, and every other appendage 
of Egyptian art. With the north side of the structure were connected six courts, 
and the same number with the southern. These were open palaces, surrounded 
by lofty walls, and paved with large slabs of stone. Around these courts ran a 
vast number of the most intricate passages, lower than the corresponding parts of 
the main building ; and around all these again was thrown a large wall, affording 
only one entrance into the labyrinth — while at the other end, where the labyrinth 
terminated, was a pyramid forty fathoms high, with large figures carved on it, and 
a subterraneous way leading within. According to Herodotus, the whole structure 
contained 3000 chambers — 1500 above ground, and as many below. The historian 
informs us, that he went through all the rooms above the surface of the earth, but 
that he was not allowed by the Egyptians who kept the place, to examine the 
subterraneous apartments, because in these were the bodies of the sacred crocodiles, 
and of the kings who built the labyrinth. The upper part, however, remarks the 
historian, which I carefully viewed, seems to surpass the art of men ; for the passages 
through the buildings, and the variety of the windings, afforded me a thousand 
occasions of wonder, as I passed from a hall to a chamber, and from the chamber 
to other buildings, and from chambers into halls. All the roofs and walls within 
are of stone, but the walls are further adorned with figures of sculpture. The 
halls are surrounded with pillars of white stone, very closely fitted. 

By his account, the labyrinth was built by twelve kings who at one time 
reigned over Egypt, and it was intended as a public monument of their common 
reign. Others make it to have been constructed by Psammetichus alone, who was 
one of the twelve ; others, again, assign the honour of its construction to various 
Egyptian kings. 

Below Arsinoe, on the west bank of the Nile, stood Memphis, the capital of 
Middle Egypt, founded, according to Herodotus, by Menes, who changed the 
course of the Nile, and built the city in the former bed of the river. When all 
Egypt was united under one sovereign, the capital chosen was Memphis, which 
rapidly increased in importance as its rival, Thebes, declined. At the time of our 
Saviour, it was second to no city in Egypt, except Alexandria, the capital ; it 
having nearly regained in the time of the Ptolemies, what it lost under the 
destructive hand of Cambyses. When Strabo visited it, he found three temples 
and a large circus. The palaces were mostly in ruins, and every appearance por- 
tended its inevitable destruction. The most remarkable monuments of this district 
are the pyramids which extend from the opposite side of the Nile, in the neigh- 
bourhood of Cairo, many miles southward. These pyramids, according to 
Manetho, whose statement is confirmed by the opinion of Champollion Figeac, 
were built by Souphis, the first king of the Fourth Dynasty. That they were 
designed for sepulchres for the monarchs is the opinion of Belzoni, Vyse, and 
others who have been so enterprising as to explore them. From the circumstance 
that their sides are accurately adapted to the four cardinal points, it has been 
supposed that they were constructed for astronomical purposes ; and the circum- 



30 



EGYPT. 



stance that their breadth and height are a muhiple of the cubit, has led many to 
the conclusion that they were intended to determine the accurate length of that 
unit of measure. 

The most important city of the Delta was Sais, at which a festival in honour 
of Neith, the Egyptian Minerva, was annually celebrated. It was the native city, 
capital, and burial-place of the last dynasty of Pharaohs. King Amasis, for the 
purpose of embellishing it, built a splendid portico to the temple of Neith, far 
surpassing all others, according to Herodotus, in circumference and elevation, as 
well as in the quality and dimensions of the stones. The same monarch also adorned 
the building with colossal statues and Androsphinxes.* The historian adds, that 
to repair the temple, Amasis collected stones of an amazing thickness, part of which 
he brought from the quarries of Memphis, and part from the city of Elephantine. 
North-west from Sais, on the Canopic arm of the Nile, was situated the city of 
Naucratis, given by King Amasis to the lonians as a mart for their commerce, from 
which circumstance it retained its importance long after the other cities of Egypt 
had fallen in ruins ; scarcely a trace of it, now, however, remains. 

On the coast of the Mediterranean, and on the confines of Syria and Egypt, 
stood the city of Rhinocolura, the modern El Arish, a good roadstead, but unsafe 
harbour. It was once the seat of an extensive Arabian commerce. On the 
western side of the Delta, at the frontier of the desert, is Alexandria, still 
retaining the name of its great founder, and proving by its extensive trade, the 
wisdom that dictated its position, 

* The Androsphinx was a monstrous figure, witli the body of a lion and the face of a man. 
The artists of Egypt, however, commonly represented it with the body of a lion, and tJie face 
of a young woman. 




K D I N S OF ANTE 'J' F L' J.li 




HE opinion that the ancient population of Egypt 
belonged to the Negro race of Africa is an error, which 
prevailed for a long time. The voyagers of the Le- 
vant, since the revival of letters, little capable of 
appreciating with accuracy the light which the monu- 
ments of Egypt throw upon the subject, have con- 
tributed to propagate this false idea ; and geographers 
have not failed to reproduce the same in our time. 

Dr. Morton may be considered the most decisive authority with respect to the 
origin of the Egyptians. He is the only writer who has carefully compared the 
sculls taken from the most ancient tombs, with delineations copied from the monu- 
ments, and the statements of all ancient historians entitled to credit. Among his 
conclusions are these. The valley of the Nile, both in Egypt and in Nubia, was 
originally peopled by a branch of the Caucasian race, which primeval people, 
since called Egyptians, were the Mizraim of ScripUire, the posterity of Ham, 
and are directly affiliated with the Libvan family of nations. In their physi- 
cal) 



32 EGYPT. 

cal character, the Egyptians were intermediate between the Indo-European and 
Semitic* races. 

The Austral Egyptian, or Meroite communities were an Indo-Arabian stock, 
engrafted on the primitive Libyan inhabitants ; but besides these exotic sources of 
j)opulation, the Egyptian race was at different periods modified by the influx of 
the Caucasian nations of Asia and Europe — Pelasgi or Hellenes, Scythians and 
Phoenicians ; and kings of Egypt appear to have been incidentally derived from 
each of the above nations. The Copts, in part at least, are a mixture of the Cau- 
casian and the Negro, in extreme variable proportions; and although Negroes 
were numerous in Egypt, their social position in ancient times was the same that it 
is now, that of servants and slaves. The national characteristics of all these fami- 
lies of man are distinctly figured on the monuments ; and all of them, excepting 
the Scythians and Phcenicians, have been identified in the catacombs. The present 
Fellahs are the lineal and least mixed descendants of the ancient Egyptians ; and 
the latter are collaterally represented by the Tuaricks, Kabyles, Siwahs, and other 
remains of the Libyan family of nations ; but the modern Nubians, with a few 
exceptions, are not the descendants of the monumental Ethiopians, but a variously 
mixed race of Arabs and Negroes. And finally. Dr. Morton seems to have proved, 
beyond a question, that the physical or organic characters which distinguished the 
several races of mankind, are as old as the oldest records of our species.f 

Many researches have been made for the purpose of ascertaining the number of 
the inhabitants of Egypt at the time of its prosperity, and various estimates have 
been formed from the vast extent of the public works, and the period during which 
the kingdom flourished. The mean number of the people has, however, been con- 
clusively fixed by Champollion-Figeac at between six and seven millions. | After 
the revolution which substituted the monarchical for the hierarchical form of 
govermnent, the division of the people into castes still prevailed. This division 
was the fundamental base of the Egyptian constitution, and royalty was at its 
summit. The number of castes may be reduced to four, viz : — The sacred, the 
military, the agricultural, and the mercantile. The shepherds were devoted to the 
service of the agriculturist ; the interpreters appertained to the sacerdotal and 
commercial classes, and the pilots and seamen to the army ; the remainder of the 
population were slaves. The population was spread equally over the cultivated 
surface of Egypt. The law attached the child to the profession of its father, and 

* " Tlie Semitic race extended from the Mediterranean Sea on the West, to the confines of 
Persia on the East, and doubtless possessed great variety of feature and complexion. They 
derive their collective name from Shem, ' from whom, in the table of nations, in the Book of 
Genesis, entitled Toldoth Beni Noah, many of them are declared to have descended.' — 
Prichard, Researches, 11., p. 208, 2d ed. The principal of these nations, adds Doctor Prichard, 
were those of Elam, to the north-west of the Persian Gulf; the Assyrian ; the Chasdim, or 
Chaldeans, who are the ancestors of the Hebrews and Arabs; the Lydians, and the Syrians, or 
people of Aram. They are also called, collectively, Syro-Arabian nations." — Morion. 

f Morton's Crania JEgypt'iaca.. 

I Egypte Ancienne. 



POLITICA L INSTITUTIONS. 33 

it is likely that the force and activity of each class was maintained to the point 
considered necessary to the interests, both of the state and of individuals. The 
prosperity of the nation founded on this basis was of long duration. 

The kingdom was divided into prefectures or nomes, and the administration, 
religious, civil and military, was enforced by functionaries under the direction of 
the hierarchy. The system of imposts was well regulated, and the products 
served to support the royal family, the priests and the army. This part of the 
population constituted the consumers, the agriculturists and the merchants being 
the only producers. 

It has been asserted with some appearance of truth, that political and solemn 
assemblies were convoked by the king or by the law, when the consideration of 
extraordinary occurrences, or the regulation of the taxes and the nature of the 
imposts, or any change in the reign or the succession of a new dynasty, made 
it necessary. Each nome sent a number of deputies to the general assembly of 
the nation, which is supposed to have met in the famous labyrinth, where the 
king or his son presided over the deliberations.* 

The first and most important of the castes was that of the priests, the military 
forming the second. The king and nobles belonged to one or the other of these 
two classes — and if the heir was a soldier before ascending the throne, it was 
made necessary by the law that he should be instructed in the secret learning of the 
priests.f Like the Moslem sultans, he was the head of church and state, regulating 
the sacrifices in the temple, and superintending the feasts and festivals in honour 
of the deity. The principal of hereditary sovereignty prevailed, the nearest 
relation succeeding to the throne in the event of an heir failing ; and the govern- 
ment could even be exercised by a female. Next to the king, the priests held the 
first rank, and from them were chosen his confidential advisers, the judges and 
principal officers of state. Women, according to Herodotus, were not eligible to 
the priesthood ; but this remark applies only to the office of pontiff, or some other 
of the high sacerdotal orders. All learning, except what little was absolutely 
necessary for the exercise of the ordinary professions of the other castes, was 
retained in the keeping of the priests. 

Next in rank to the sacerdotal class was that of the soldiers, to whom was 
assigned one of the three portions into which the land was divided by Sesostris. 
This was done, " in order," says Diodorus, " that those who exposed themselves 
to danger in the field, might be more ready to undergo the hazards of war from 
the interest they felt in the country as the occupiers of the soil ; for it would be 
absurd to commit the safety of the community to those who possessed nothing 
which they were anxious to preserve. "| This force was divided into two corps, 
the Calasiries and the Hermotybies. Besides these, there were large bodies of 
hired auxiliaries, w^ho received wages instead of land for their services, and were, 
what Strabo calls them, mercenaries.^ 

* Champollion-Figeac. \ Plutarch. \ Diod. i. 73. \ Strabo, lib. xvii. 

Vol I.— o 



34 



EG YPT. 




IGYPTIAN SOLDIERS OF VARIOUS COHP3 



The strength of the army consisted in archers, who fought either on foot or 
in chariots. Heavy infantry, divided into regiments, each distinguished by its 
pecidiar arms, formed the centre, and the archers the wings ; the foot being 
supported and covered by the numerous cavalry. The infantry consisted of 
bowmen, spearmen, swordsmen, ckibmen, slingers, and other corps, regularly 
disciplined, and trained to act in line or in more open movements, according to the 
nature of the ground, or the dispositions of the enemy. 

Each battalion, and indeed each company, had its standard, representing a 
king's name, a sacred boat, an animal, or some emblematic device. This standard 
was borne by an officer of known valour, and the sacred subject represented upon 
it being calculated to inspire reverence, every soldier was ready to defend what 
superstitious prejudice as well as duty forbade him to abandon. Their martial 
music was produced by the trumpet and long drum ; their weapons were the bow, 
spear, two kinds of javelin, a short straight sword, dagger, falchion, several kinds 
of axe, a mace or club, and a curved stick called from its shape lissan* an Arabic 
word signifying tongue. They wore a helmet of metal, and a metal cuirass or 
coat of armour, wath a short sleeve extending about half way to the elbow. A 
shield, which, in length, was equal to about half his height and double its own 

* Wilkinson's Ancient Egyptians. 



]\I I LIT A R V F()RCE, 



35 




E O y r T I A N WAR CHARIOTS. 



breadth, made of wicker work or a wooden frame, covered with bull's-hide and 
strengthened with rims of metal, completed the defence of the Egyptian soldier. 
The chariot corps, like the infantry, were divided into light and heavy troops, 
both armed with bows — the former being used in harassing the enemy with 
missiles and in movements requiring rapidity ; the latter in the more difficult service 
of breaking the masses of the enemy's infantry. In attacking a fortified town, 
they advanced under cover of the arrows of the bowmen, and either instantly 
applied the scaling ladder to the ramparts, or uncfertook the routine of a regular 
siege. Testudos were then advanced to the walls as a cover for the battering 
ram. When the place held out against all attacks, a corps of sappers and miners 
were employed, who were concealed and protected by the testudo, which was of 
frame-work, covered with hides ; it was sufficiently large to contain several men, 
and the light troops frequently mounted upon the top of it, for the advantages of 
an elevated position and greater precision in planting the ladders. Besides these 
it is supposed that they employed bulwarks, or moveable wooden tow^ers, and 
means of destroying the houses and works of the enemy by fire, like the fire balls 
of the Greeks. The officers of the Egyptian fleet were selected from the army, 
and the marines or fighting men who served on board, were all of the military order. 
The husbandmen of Egypt, says Diodorus, were hired to till the estates of 



36 EGYPT. 

the kings, priests, and soldiers ; the richer peasants farming the land from the 
proprietor, while the poor were hired as labourers for the cultivation of the ground. 
The terms by which the land was held were moderate, and the w^ages paid by the 
farmers trifling. The herds belonged to the land-owner; and the inferior class of 
people, who had the direct care of them, were obliged to give accurate returns of 
the number and condition of the cattle on the estate. The poultry yard was 
stocked not merely by the natural process of raising chickens, but also by artificial 
means : the eggs of geese and other poultry being hatched in ovens heated to the 
requisite temperature. The nature of the soil, the proper succession of crops, and 
the mode of tilling and irrigating the fields, were the subjects of continual study 
by the farmers, who, according to Diodorus,* far excelled the agriculturists of 
every other nation. 

In regard to the fourth caste, Diodorus observes that all trades vied with each 
other in improving their own peculiar branch, no pains being spared to bring it to 
perfection — and for the more effectual promotion of this object, the law was 
enacted which required the artisan to pursue that profession which had been handed 
down to him by his parent.f 

According to the system of Champollion, the hieroglyphical writing of the 
Egyptians consists of three different species of characters : — 1. The hieroglyphic, 
properly so called, in which the representation of the object conveys the idea of 
the object itself, either entire or in an abridged form. Many words were thus 
expressed, chiefly those denoting common visible objects. These are termed by 
Champollion figurative, and divided into figurative proper, figurative conventional, 
and figurative abridged. 2. The second class of hieroglyphical characters consists 
of those which represent ideas by images of visible objects, used as symbols ; and 
these are generally employed in the expression of abstract ideas or complex modes 
— as a tumult represented by a man throwing arrows; adoration by a censer 
containing incense, &c. In some of these, the connexion between the type and 
the anti-type is obvious — in others it depends on associations which are not 
understood by us, and consequently cannot be traced. These characters are what 
the Greeks more peculiarly termed hieroglyphics ; they are called by Champollion 
symbolical. 8. The third class consists of phonetic characters, in which the 
sign represents, not an object, but a sound. This, according to Champollion, 
was effected by the following device. The figure representing a letter was the 
likeness of some animal or other object of which the name began with that letter. 
Thus, Champollion has constructed an alphabet of initials, in which the letter A 
is represented by an eagle — the initial letter of the Egyptian word "eagle," 
Akhom, being A, &c. Twenty-nine elementary sounds are thus presented. But 
the writer was not confined to the use of one representative of a letter only. At 
first sight it would appear that all objects, the initial of whose name was a 
particular letter, might be used to express that letter ; but custom seems to have 

* DioJor. i. 74. t Diodor. i. 74. 



WORSHIP OF ANIMALS. 37 

applied only a certain number of objects to this use : some letters have eighteen 
or nineteen known representatives — others six or seven. In selecting out these, 
the writer seems to have been guided by notions of what was suitable in reference 
to the word which he was writing ; as for example, the S in the word Si, son, is 
commonly represented by the figure of a goose, on account, according to Horus 
Apollo, of the supposed attachment of that bird for its young. The honour of the 
recent progress made in the explanation of hieroglyphical writing, is divided 
between the English Orientalist, Dr. Young, and ChampolHon ; but the latter 
appears to have had no small share in the original discoveries, as well as to have 
carried the science to a high degree of cultivation. Besides the hieroglyphic 
character, the Egyptians used the hieratic and demotic, which were, both of them, 
conversions of the hieroglyphic into a kind of current hand — the latter nearly 
alphabetical. The most civilized people of America, the Mexicans, at the time of 
the Spanish conquest, had advanced as far as the discovery of hieroglyphic or 
picture writing, although they did not possess a written alphabet. The Chinese 
writing was originally ideographic — i. e., expressing ideas by symbols (answering 
to the second class of Egyptian hieroglyphics, with some admixture of the first). 
But in process of time the greater part of the characters became simply phonetic* 

One of the most strange and portentous customs which distinguished the ancient 
Egyptians was the worship of animals. The most magnificent temples were built, 
and the greatest veneration was paid to a cat, a crocodile, a hawk, a snake, or 
some other beast fit only to inhabit a cavern or a marsh. The accidental death 
of any of their sacred animals was followed by the certain destruction of the author 
or cause of it, without trial or investigation of any kind. When a cat rushed into 
a burning house and was consumed, despite their exertions to the contrary, 
they were thrown into the deepest grief. When a dog died in a house, the inmates 
shaved their heads and whole body ; when a cat was deceased, they shaved off 
their eyebrows. Each nome worshipped its own particular deity. These were 
the ox (Apis), the dog, the cat, the hawk, and the ibis, besides several kinds of 
fishes, reptiles, insects, and even plants. They were generally adored in conse- 
quence of some real or fancied resemblance, in their generation or growth, to the 
motions of the heavenly bodies. Every priest was devoted to a particular deity, 
and was permanently attached to some temple — and the sons of a priest in the 
temple of one deity, could not enter the service of any other. They were richer 
and more powerful than the nobility of the country, and exercised the functions of 
judges, physicians, astronomers, and architects. They were always celebrated 
for the cleanliness of their persons, bathing frequently by day and by night, and 
shaving their whole bodies once every three days. 

The practice of embalming the bodies of the dead, so prevalent among the 
ancient Egyptians, arose more from necessity than choice, and, like many other 
of the customs of the land, may have been identified by the priests with the 

* Brande. 



38 



EGYPT. 



national religion, in order to ensure its continuance. The rites of sepulture in 
Egypt, grew out of circumstances peculiar to that country. The scarcity of fuel 
precluded the use of the funeral pile ; and the sands of the desert afforded no pro- 
tection from outrage by wild beasts — while the regular inundations of the valley 
forbade it to be used as a charnel house, under penalty of pestilence to the living. 
Hence grew the use of antiseptic substances, in which the nation became so skilled 
as to render the bodies of their dead inaccessible to the ordinary process of decay.* 

* Our autliority for this section is Champolhon-Figeac. His " Ancient Ej^ypt" could 
never have been written, but for the discovery of tiie true mode of interpreting the hierogly- 
phics; which was occasioned by the following circumstances: By the capitulation of Alexan- 
dria, the antiquities collected by the French in Egypt, were given up to the British. Among 
these was the Rosetta-stone. This consists of a block of black basalt, discovered in Augui^t, 
1799, by Bouchard, a French otficer of engineers, wliile digging the foundations of a fort on 
tlie western bank of the Nile, between Rosetta and the sea. In 1802 it was deposited in 
the British Museum. It is about a foot in thickness, the under part being left rough. The 
upper surface, on which are three inscriptions, is flat, being about three feet in length and 
two feet live Indies in width. The coronation of Epiphanes, 196 B. C, is recorded on it 
in the ancient Greek, and also in tlie hieroglyphic and the enchorial methods of writing 
of the ancient Egyptians. The possibility that this stone might furnish a key to the inscrip- 
tions on the monuments, was immediately perceived, and casts and copies of it were greatly 
multiplied. All the learning of Europe was immediately brought to bear upon them, and 
that portion which is traced in Greek characters, was soon unravelled. The words Ptolemy 
and Cleopatra were first recognised by means of tlie Greek inscription, and by applying the 
characters which formed these to other names on the monuments, the value of most of the 
phonetic characters in the enchorial text was determined. The first step was made by the 
late Dr. Young, an English scholar, who, says Mr. Gliddon, found the key, but could not open 
the door. That key, however, was soon in the hands of a master, who knew how to make use 
of it. Champollion le Jeune, with five phonetic letters discovered by Dr. Young, commenced 
a series of investigations, which, in the short space of ten years, shed a light upon the mys- 
teries of Egypt, which all mankind had laboured twenty centuries to achieve. — Gliddoii's 
Ancient Egypt. 




Aboukir. 




SECTION III. 




BOUT two hundred and fifty years before the 
Christian era, Manetho, an Egyptian priest, of 
Heliopolis, wrote, by order of his sovereign, Ptolemy 
Philatlelphus, a history of his ow'n country, in the 
Greek language. It was translated from the sacred 
records, and would have been invaluable had it been 
; (reserved entire; but fragments in the wTitings of 
Jose})hus and early Christian writers, with a chrono- 
logical table or list of the successive rulers of Egypt, 
from the foundation of the monarchy to the time of 
Alexander of Maceclon, are all that remain of his labours. These, however, with 
the fresh information, which the disciples of Charnpollion, by deciphering the 
hieroglyphics on the monuments, have supplied, will enable us to give a tolerably 
accurate outline of the early history of the country. Following the mythology, 
says Diodorus, some Egyptians pretend that the land was originally governed by 
gods and heroes, during a period estimated at little less than 18,000 years. The 
last of the gods, who was a king, was Horus, the son of Isis ; he was succeeded 
by men who reigned from B. C. 27 J 2, to the 180th Olympiad, sixty years prior 
to the Christian era. During this long period, we scarcely find any sovereigns of 
foreign origin. Ethiopia produced but four, who did not even reign in succession, 
but from time to time, a little less than thirty-six years. After Cambyses, who 

(39) 



40 EGYPT. 

conquered the country by force of arms, tlie Persians held the sceptre 135 years, 
to which must be added the time of the different revolts of the Egyptians, who 
could neither tolerate the harshness of the rulers, nor the .impiety which the 
conquerors manifested towards the religion of the country. Finally, the Macedo- 
nians reigned during 270 years. During all the rest of the time the government 
was administered by native sovereigns, of whom we count four hundred and seventy 
kings and live queens. The historical annals of all these kings, ascending even to 
the most ancient eras, were preserved in the sacred books by the priests, who 
transmitted them to their successors. The power and the character of each 
sovereign were there recorded with his deeds, for the benefit of posterity. 

After the reign of the demi-gods (where mythology terminates and real 
history begins), came the first dynasty of eight kings, who reigned successively 
252 years. Menes was the first. He was originally of Theis, or This, and he 
ruled over Egypt sixty-two years. 

Belonging to the military caste, he turned his attention to the arts of war, and 
under his reign the arms of the Egyptians were successfully employed against 
external enemies. But whilst engaged with foreign relations, he did not neglect 
the internal advancement of his kingdom. He happily effected the revolution 
which substituted a civil government for the theocracy which formerly prevailed. 
He was the first ruler of Egypt who bore the title of king, and from this new 
order of things came hereditary royal governments. Foreseeing that the great 
city of Thebes, being entirely under sacerdotal influence, would always remain 
more or less hostile to the new government, he founded the new capital of Mem- 
phis. Previous to his time, according to Herodotus, the river flowed entirely 
along the sandy mountain on the side of Africa. But Menes, by constructing a 
bank at the distance of a hundred stadia from Memphis towards the south, 
diverted the course of the Nile, and led it by means of a new canal, through the 
centre of the mountains. 

This embankment was annually repaired, lest the stream should break through 
and inundate the city. He also caused a lake to be dug, to defend it on the north 
and west, and built the temple of Phtha, celebrated in all eras of Egyptian history. 
Under his auspices, the luxuries hitherto confined to the dwellings and worship of 
the gods, were introduced among men, and proved a powerful cause of softening 
the manners of the nation — inciting its genius, and fortifying and enriching it. 
He is always found written first in the list of kings, and the monuments have 
preserved his name as the founder of the monarchy. The kings of Egypt, in after 
ages, honoured their ancestors by worship and offerings, and the tables they 
sculptured in different temples of Egypt, always bore the names of a few of their 
ancestors, and once with Menes at the head. In the Chamber of Kings, in the 
palace of Karnak, at Thebes, there is found a sculptured table which contains 
sixty-five figures of kings, accompanied by their names. They received the 
offerings and homage of their successor, Thothmes III. (otherwise called Mceris), 
about 1725 B. C. And finally, the celebrated chronological canon of Egyptian 



MENES — SESORTHOS. 41 

dynasties, written in hieratic characters upon papyrus, about 1500 B. C, and 
belonging to the museum of Turin, opens with the name of King Menes in these 

terms: — " The King Mencs exercised royal functions years." The reign 

of this celebrated monarch was closed in a remarkable manner. He is said to have 
been carried off by a hippopotamus. 

His son, Athothis, succeeded to the throne, and reigned twenty-seven years. 
He was celebrated as the author of a system of anatomy, the cultivator of the 
physical sciences, and the founder of the palace of kings, at Memphis. Six other 
kings followed, the son in each case succeeding his father: — Cencenes, who 
reigned thirty-one years ; Ouanephis or Venephes, whose reign lasted forty-two 
years, and was marked by a famine which desolated Egypt ; Ousaphes and Niebais, 
who occupied the throne without lustre, if we may judge by the silence of the 
historians — the first during twenty years, and the second during twenty-six: 
Mempses or Simempsis, who reigned eighteen years, a period pregnant with great 
crimes, and during which Egypt was ravaged by a terrible pestilence ; and lastly, 
Vibithis, or Oubienthis, who occupied the throne during twenty-six years, and 
was the last king of the first dynasty. 

The second dynasty, composed of nine princes, of an origin similar to their 
predecessors, held the sceptre 297 years. During the reign of Bochos, the first, 
who occupied the throne thirty-eight years, a gulf or fissure opened near Bubastis, 
and caused the death of many persons. He was succeeded by Chous, who 
reigned thirty-nine years, and rendered himself remarkable by regulating the 
worship of the three sacred animals, the bulls Apis at Memphis and Menevis at 
Heliopolis, and the goat at Mendes. The reign of Biophis, the third king of the 
second dynasty, lasted forty-seven years. To this prince history assigns the 
honour of the enactment of a new law in Egypt, providing that women might hold 
the reins of government. 

History records the names of three successors of Biophis, who did nothing 
remarkable. Fabulists report that during the reign of Nephercheres, the seventh 
monarch of the second dynasty, the Nile flowed with honey during eleven days. 
He was followed by Sesochris, who was of an extraordinary stature. He was five 
cubits (seven feet six inches) in height, and three in breadth. To him succeeded 
Cheneres, whose name is all that is known of his history. He was the last king 
of the second dynasty. 

The third dynasty originated in Memphis. Of the eight kings who composed 
it, and who occupied the throne during 197 years, Necherophes was the first. 
The Libyans revolted from the Egyptians during his reign ; but alarmed by an 
unexpected increase of the moon, they submitted. Sesorthos, who, from his 
skill in medicine, was named the Egyptian ^Esculapius, succeeded. To him is 
attributed the honour of first applying the saw to the preparation of stone for 
buildings. He also gave to written characters exact and elegant forms — thus 
by invention and study perfecting the public institutions, and facilitating the 
progress of civilization in his own country. The reigns of the six successors of 
Vol. I. 6 



42 EGYPT. 

Sesorthos were not celebrated for any memorable events, and chronologists usually 
omit their names.* 

The fourth dynasty is remarkable for the erection of the pyramids. On the 
authority of Champollion-Figeac, we have already ascribed this work to Suphis, 
its first king. The recent discoveries of Vyse, and his successors since 1837, 
distribute it among nearly all the kings of this dynasty, of w^hom Suphis I. was 
the second. Out of the eight kings given by Manetho, the hieroglyphics enable 
us to incHcate four with precision, viz. Shore (Soris), Shoopho (Cheops or Suphis 
I.), Shephre (Chephren), and Menkare (Mencheres). The names of Cheops 
and Chephren or Cephrenes, are found in the pyramids which were respectively 
their tombs.f The duration of this dynasty is a disputed point. Some archai- 
ologists making out from the mutilated history of Manetho seventeen kings, and 
others discovering monumental evidence of only eight kings, reigning 284 years. 
The latter computation is of course to be preferred. The reigns of the eight kings 
were as follows : — Shore 29 years, Shoopho 63, Shephre 66, Menkare 63, Rhatoeses 
25, Bicheris 22, Sebercheres 7, Tharapthis 94 

The fifth dynasty differed from the preceding in its Elephantine origin. 
Usercheres was the first king, and the reason of his being called to displace the 
heir of the ancient families is as little known as the history of the whole dynasty. 
At the expiration of 248 years from the accession of Usercheres, his eighth successor 
died, and a new family was called to the throne. 

The sixth dynasty, together with the seventh and eighth, came from Memphis. 
The first of its kings was Othoes, who was killed by his guards. His third 
successor was Phiops, who attained the age of one hundred years, during ninety- 
four of which he occupied the throne. The last king of this family was Menthe- 
souphis, who was assassinated after a reign of one year. The celebrated Queen 
Nitocris, of florid complexion and flaxen hair, succeeded to the throne under the 
law of Biophis. To avenge the death of her brother, she destroyed a great number 
of Egyptians by the following artifice. A large subterraneous apartment was 
constructed, professedly for festivals, but in reality for a different purpose. She 
invited to this place those Egyptians whom she knew to be the principal instruments 
of her brother's death, and then by a secret canal, introduced the river amongst 
them. It is stated that to avoid the indignation of the people, she suffocated 
herself in an apartment filled with ashes.|| 

The seventh dynasty was composed of five kings, who reigned seventy-five 
years, and was followed by the eighth, which endured one hundred years ; the 
five kings composing it succeeding to the throne, and dropping into their graves 
without any remarkable actions to distinguish them. The patience of the patriotic 

* Manetho a pud Cory Anc. Frag. 

t The hieroglyphics have thus answered in the affirmative the query of the poet addressed 
some twenty years since to the mummy. 

" Was Clioops ur CcphreiiL'S urcliiti-cl of oillicr pyrniiiid ?" 

\ Gliddon'b Anc. Egypt. || Herodotus, xi. 100. 



SESOSTRIS. 43 

Egyptians being exhausted by the indolent sovereigns who had for two centuries 
compromised the best interests of the state, they began to look beyond the walls 
of Memphis, for a new race of kings. A fiimily from the Heracleopolite nome 
mounted the throne. Acthoes was the first king. He was more cruel than any 
of his predecessors ; and, having perpetrated many crimes in Egypt, he was seized 
with madness, and was afterwards killed by a crocodile. His family occupied the 
throne a hundred years. His fourth successor was of another Heracleopolite 
family, of which nineteen kings, who reigned 185 years, formed the tenth dynasty. 
The city of Thebes produced the eleventh dynasty of seventeen kings, who reigned 
about fifty-nine years. 

The twelfth dynasty boasted the same origin ; and was remarkable for the 
reign of Sesostris, who conquered nearly all Asia in nine years, and Europe, as far 
as Thrace, everyw^here erecting monuments of his conquests over the subject 
nations. He ranked next to Osiris in the estimation of the Egyptians. His 
stature was about six feet and ten inches. He was succeeded by Labares, sup- 
posed to be the same with the Moeris of Herodotus. He built the Labyrinth in 
the Arsinoite nome, w^here Dr. Lepsius, in 1843, discovered his name. 

The thirteenth dynasty was composed of sixty Theban kings, who ruled 
Egypt 453 years, and was followed by a race of Xoite monarchs, seventy-six 
of whom swayed the sceptre during 484 years. The two following dynasties 
originated in Thebes. Of the former, Osymandyas, whose tomb and statue, the 
Memnonium, have been already noticed, was the most remarkable. Osortasen, 
celebrated for the cultivation of the arts of peace, and the flourishing condition of 
the nation under his rule, is considered by Champollion to have been one of the 
kings of the latter dynasty. He also supposes, that when at the age of seventy- 
five, Abraham went into Egypt on account of a famine, the sixteenth dynasty was 
still in possession of the throne. Being about to take his wife with him, and 
fearing that her great beauty would attract the notice of the king, and endanger 
his hfe, the patriarch attempted to escape by representing her in the relation of 
sister, instead of the nearer cormexion of a wife. This, says an able commen- 
tator, was a truth in terms, but a moral untruth ; because, though Sarah was the 
daughter of his father, or his step-sister, yet it was intended to convey the impres- 
sion that Sarah was nothing more than a sister to him. As soon as he came into 
Egypt, the calamity he feared well nigh befell him. Hearing the report of her 
beauty, Pharaoh must needs see her ; and he was about to make her his wife, 
when a distemper and a sedition against his government averted the prosecution 
of his design. The truth being explained to him, Sarah was restored to Abraham, 
with large presents from the king, the account of which given in Holy Writ 
furnishes a new test of the prosperity of Egypt under the sixteenth dynasty. 

The last king of that dynasty, called Timaos, was visited by an irruption 
from the eastward. The invaders penetrated into all parts of the country, and 
took almost unresisted possession of it. They oppressed the ancient rulers of the 
country, burnt the cities, overthrew the magnificent temples, exercised the utmost 



44 EGYPT. 

cruelty to the inhabitants, reducing part of the women and children to a state of 
slavery ; and completed the woes of Egypt by choosing one of their number, 
Salathis, to be king. Finding himself master of Egypt, Salathis instituted a 
government, exacted tribute from both Upper and Lower Egypt, raised taxes, 
placed garrisons in different places, and fortified the eastern frontier, to prevent the 
incursions of the Syrians. 

Having taken the city of Avaris, on the Bubastic channel, he rebuilt it, 
fortifying it with walls and other defences, in the most complete manner. In this 
place, to which Salathis came in the summer to gather his corn and pay wages to 
the troops, he kept a garrison of 240,000 men, for the purpose of inspiring the 
people with awe. The reign of this prince was ended by his death at the expira- 
tion of nineteen years. Manetho gives to these sanguinary and despotic invaders 
of the land of Egypt, the appellation of Hyksos, or Shepherd Kings, a name still 
retained by historians. Many different opinions have been held respecting their 
origin. Josephus considers them as having been Jews, whilst Wilkinson, rejecting 
his assertion as the offspring of national vanity, concludes that they could only 
be Assyrians. According to Champollion-Figeac, we may see by their physical 
characteristics, that they belonged to the white race. Their high and fierce 
bearing, added to the fact, that the Scythian race carried their arms into rich and 
civilized countries in the earliest history of Asia, would lead us to suppose that 
they were of that nation. 

The unfortunate King Timaos endeavoured in vain to resist their enterprising 
valour ; but he lost his life in the attempt, after a reign of six years. (2082 B. C.) 
After his death, the principal families of the country, flying before the invaders, 
retreated into Upper Egypt and Nubia, above the first cataract, and on the coasts 
of the Red Sea, where Egypt possessed important establishments. Timaos had 
legal successors, who, however, had no opportunities of exercising their powers to 
advantage. They established themselves in Upper Egypt, and there were at the 
same time two kings and two kingdoms in the land ; the legitimate Pharaohs in 
Upper Egypt, and the Hyksos in Memphis, Middle and Lower Egypt. From 
this fact, it may easily be understood how the seventeenth dynasty should be 
composed of two lists of contemporaneous monarchs, whose reigns were of nearly 
equal duration. 

The history of the Hyksos has been preserved only by written testimony, they 
having made a business of destroying the numerous monuments of the district in 
their possession, in which occupation they were unfortunately so successful, as to 
leave scarce one entire, in the whole valley of the Nile. By fortifying Avaris, 
the King Salathis assured the safety of Egypt from the powerful nations of Asia, 
to whom he had himself pointed out the road to power. He guarded the avenues 
of Egypt at the east and north, and watched the south, where the Pharaohs had 
taken refuge. The history of these unfortunate princes is preserved by the 
monuments. They knew well how to avail themselves of the indignation of the 
higher castes, whose rights had perished with their own, and of the attachment of 



JOSEPH IN EGYPT. 45 

the people at large to the religion of which they were the head. Their names are 
not given by historical writers ol' antiquity, but in the table of Abydos, are found 
before the first king of the eighteenth dynasty, the cartouches of six true kings of 
the seventeenth. These six kings reigned 260 years. The first, Ameneradjom, 
reigned twenty-nine years, and was engaged in hostilities with the Ethiopians. 
He was followed by Osortasen II., whose successor was the third king of the 
same name. Another Amenemdjom followed: the name of the fifth king is 
not preserved; but the sixth and last of the dynasty bore the appellation of 
Ahmos, son of the god Lune. The names of the Shepherd kings are thus re- 
corded: — Salathis, who held the sceptre nineteen years; Boeon, forty-four years; 
A pachnas, thirty-six years and seven months; Apophis, sixty-one years ; Anan, 
fifty years and one month ; and Asseth, forty-nine years and two months ; in all 
259 years and ten months. 

It was during the reign of these strangers that Joseph appeared in Egypt, 
first as a slave in the house of one of the officers of the king, then as his steward, 
loaded with fetters, aiding in the prison government, acting as interpreter to the 
butler and baker of the king, performing the same office for the monarch himself, 
and finally preserving whole nations from the eflfects of a grievous famine, and 
closing his career as the first minister of that country, which he had entered under 
such unfavourable auspices. This elevation occurred in the thirtieth year of his 
age, and the seventeenth year of the reign of King Apophis ; 206 years after 
Abraham's visit to Egypt, and about 1967 years before the Christian era. The 
circumstances of Joseph's elevation to power are thus recorded in the Bible : 

" And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man 
in whom the spirit of God is ? And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Forasmuch as 
God hath shewed thee all this, there is none so discreet and wise as thou art : 
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall my people be 
ruled : only in the throne will I be greater than thou. And Pharaoh said unto 
Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off 
his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures 
of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck ; And he made him to ride in the 
second chariot which he had : and they cried before him, Bow the knee : and he 
made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am 
Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of 
Egypt. And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah."* 

Of the reigns of the two kings who succeeded Apophis, nothing is known. 
The true Pharaohs, however, had still continued to struggle with their invaders, 
and the power which had been so long lost, was soon to return again to the pos- 
session of the family. Towards the close of the interval between Joseph and 
Moses, we are told that " a new king arose w-ho knew not Joseph." In such a 
country as Egypt, this, with the resulting circumstances, implies a change of 

* In Coptic " Pis6t-en-Plieneh," which Rosellini translates " Saviour of the Age," a title 
beautifully applicable to Joseph. 



46 



TRIUMPH OF JOSEPH. 







^t^f 




(1) nasty. Wilkinson places Ahmosis at 
head of the eighteenth dynasty, making 
his monumental name Ames (Chebron), 
and his name from Manetho, Amosis Che- 
bron ; and places against his name, in his 
chronological list of Pharaohs, this note, 
« There arose a new (dynasty or) king, 
who knew not Joseph." Exod. i. 8. Mr 
Ghddon names this king Aahmes, and 
places him at the end of the seventeenth 
dynasty, and his son Amunoph I. at the 
head of the eighteenth dynasty. There 
appears, therefore, to be some uncertainty 
as to the point where the seventeenth 
dynasty terminates and the eighteenth 
commences, which the explorations of Dr. 
Lepsius may remove. 

" The most celebrated act of the reign 
of Amosis (Aahmes)," says a recent writer,* 
" was the expulsion of the Shepherds fiom 
Memphis. The two races had, throughout 
the whole period of usurpation, kept up a 

* Antiquities of Egypt, published anony- 
mously by the London Religious Tract Society 



|i k 






EIGHTEENTH DYNASTY. 47 

war along the confines of tlioir kingdoms with various success. But Aahmes 
recovered possession of the whole Delta from Asseth, the second successor of 
Apophis, compelling him and his army to take refuge in Avaris (Aouaris), the 
fortified city or camp which they had prepared on the eastern borders of Egypt. 

" It has just been noticed that, during the 260 years after their expulsion 
from Memphis, the Pharaohs of Upper Egypt had been engaged in continual 
wars ; and this circumstance seems to have had a strong effect upon the national 
character of the Egyptians ; they became a warlike race, able to expel these 
conquerors, before whom their ancestors had fled almost without striking a blow. 
Some cause must also have been at work to enervate the warlike spirit of the 
Shepherd kings at Memphis, and the wealth which the administration of Joseph 
had poured into their coffers from the whole of the neighbouring countries, may, 
with some probability, be pointed out as that cause. The fame of this wealth 
would also violently stimulate the ambition and avarice of the hereditary Pharaohs, 
and doubtless it fell into their possession with the territory which they recovered. 
Some extraordinary circumstance hke that with which the inspired history supplies 
us, is certainly needed to account for the style of magnificence that distinguishes 
the monuments of the era which immediately followed the expulsion of the 
Shepherds, from those of all other periods." 

We now come to the eighteenth dynasty. According to the Greek writers, 
this was the most celebrated of all the generations of kings that ever sat upon the 
throne of Egypt. The monuments fully confirm this account. There is scarcely 
a temple or palace in Egypt, which has not been founded by this illustrious race 
of monarchs. 

" The eighteenth dynasty of seventeen Theban kings," says Mr. Gliddon,* 
" occupied the Pharaonic throne during the most brilliant and important period of 
Egyptian history. The re-establishment of supreme power on the expulsion of the 
Hyksos; the erection of the most magnificent edifices, the conquests in Africa far 
into Nigritia, in Asia Minor to Colchis, on the Euxine, and through Central Asia 
into Hindostan, with the sojourn and exodus of the Israelites, combine to render 
this portion of the page of Nilotic history teeming with interest."! 

* Anc. Egypt, p. 64. 

f Among the monumental records which confirm and correct the fragments of Manetho 
relating to this dynasty, the most important is the celebrated Tablet of Abydos. This is a 
series of royal ovals or cartouches, inclosing the hieroglyphical titles and names of many of 
the ancient kings of Egypt, in tlie order of their succession. It was engraved on the wall of 
one of the vestibules of the temple which has been excavated in the mountain on the north 
of the city of Abydos. Tliree rows of these ovals still remain ; the lowest consists of nine 
repetitions of the two ovals which contain the name and titles of the Pharaoh who executed 
this work, Ramses III. (the great Sesostris). The middle row contains the name of his 
brother, whom he succeeded ; and tlie inaugural titles of sixteen of his predecessors on the 
throne of Egypt. The complete names of all of them occur on other monuments, and by 
arranging them together in the order of the Tablet of Abydos, they agree admirably with those 
of the predecessors of Ramses III., given in the lists of Manetho. The upper line contains the 



48 



EGYPT. 




AMOUNOPT 1 



The first monarch of this illustrious line, 
was Amounopt (Amenophis I.), son of the 
Aahmes, who drove the Shepherds from 
Memphis, and besieged them in Avaris. 
A.mounopt is the Amosis Thetraosis of the 
Greeks, and is placed by Mr. Birch, as well 
as Mr. Gliddon, at the head of the eighteenth 
dynasty. He unsuccessfully continued the 
siege of Avaris, but removed the Shepherds 
by treaty, who, according to Manetho, were 
permitted to depart from Egypt with all their 
families and effects, in number not less than 
240,000, and bent their way through the 
desert towards Syria. Manetho makes the 
number of the besieging army 480,000. After expelling the Hyksos, Amounopt 
restored the ancient laws and religion, and reformed abuses throughout the king- 
dom. There is abundant evidence on the monuments of Amounopt's having 
extended his conquests to Ethiopia, Nubia, and Asia.* He appears to have 
married three ladies. The first was named Aahmos-nofre-areh, " born of the 
moon, the good giiardian.^^ She is always coloured black in the paintings, and 
was apparently an Ethiopian. Rosellini conjectures her to have been the daughter 
of an Ethiopian monarch. She is the supposed mother of Thothmes I. Besides 
this lady, another queen is found recorded in the monuments, named Aah-ophth, or 
Oohophth, " the offered or dedicated to the moon,^^ and a third queen whose name 
is found but once recorded.! Rosellini dates the reign of Amounopt, B. C. 
1822—1796. 

Amounopt was succeeded by his son Thothmes I., second king of the eigh- 
teenth dynasty. Memorials of him are found at Medinat Haboo, Ibrim, Karnak, 
and the El Assassif. He reigned from B. C. 1796 to 1783. 

Thothmes II., son of Thothmes I., was the third king of the eighteenth 
dynasty, and according to Rosellini, corresponds to Amenophis of the list of 
Manetho; he places his reign B.C. 1783, and assigns him a sway of twenty-seven 
years and seven months. The few memorials of his reign, which exist at Medinat, 
Karnak, and in the ruined temple of El Assassif, do not present any great 
historical interest. His queen was named Amoun-mai. 

names of still earlier monarchs, concerning whom important facts liave been recently dis- 
covered. The light thrown not only upon Egyptian, but- upon all ancient history by this 
monument, will at once be appreciated by the reader. The Tablet of Abydos was first dis- 
covered by Mr. J. VV. Bankes, in 1818. It was subsequently removed and deposited in the 
British Museum. A most accurate copy and a thorough analysis of the Tablet, may be found 
in the " Gallery of Antiquities selected from the British Museum, by F. Arundale and J. 
Bonomi, with descriptions by S. Birch, Assistant to the Antiquarian Department at the 
British Museum,'''' a work of inestimable value to the student of Egyptian history. 
* Birch. t Ibid. 



TIIOTIIMKS III. 49 

He was succeeded by Aiiioiiii-nouin-lie, tlie queen Amenses of Manetlio. Her 
name is supposed to be found recorded on the cartouches of certain monuments, 
which present a difficulty in the history of the eighteenth dynasty. Mr. Birch, 
after examining the conflicting opinions of Wilkinson, Rosellini and others, 
arrives at this conclusion. " The probability seems to be, that the cartouche 
prenominal,* Re-mei-ka, was assumed by Amense on the death of her brother 
Amenophis I. ; that she was allied in the sovereignty with his brothers, Thothmes 
I. and Thothmes 11. , and held the regency during the early part of the reign 
of Thothmes III., when she changed her name from Amense to that of Amoun- 
nem-he ; that her brother, having ejected her from power, carefully erased 
throughout the public monuments all the inscriptions in which she had been 
associated with him on the throne." 

The fifth sovereign of the eighteenth dynasty was Thothmes III. "The 
name," says Mr. Birch, " which stands next to Amense, in the lists of Manetho, 
is Mephres-Misphris, and as Thothmes III. bears in his standard, and sometimes 
in his cartouches the epithet of ' loving the sun,^ mei-re or mei-p-re, he has been 
supposed to be the Moeris of Herodotus, and the actions of this celebrated monarch 
have been attributed to him. He is, rather, the Mesphrag-Thutmosis, but is 
supposed by Sir Gardner Wilkinson to be the Tuthmosis of the lists. As dis- 
tinguished from other monarchs of the same name and line, he may justly be called 
the Great, since the whole of Egypt, and even Nubia, bears testimony to the vast 
public works completed or commenced by him. He erected the temple of Semne, 
in Nubia, two spea, or rock-excavated chapels, at Ibrim, near Aboo-simbel, 
commenced the temple of Amada, in honour of the god Re or Ra, appears to have 
formerly founded a temple at Ombos, in honour of Savak or Souchis, an older 
construction than the remaining one at Edfou, at Eileithyia, and a temple at 
Medinat Haboo. The edifice at El-Assassif was also constructed by him, and the 
commencement of the palace of Karnak, comprising more than a third part of that 
edifice — that portion called the granite sanctuary, before which stand the two 
great obelisks of his sister and father ; another edifice to the north-east of Karnak 
remains of him, and the obelisk now before the Church of St. Giovanni del 
Laterano, at Rome, one at Alexandria, and another in the Atmeidan, or Hip- 
podrome, of Constantinople, are memorials of his reign. The obelisk of the 
Atmeidan records that he had encircled with his boats, the great waters of 
the Naharaina, or Mesopotamia; and the statistical tablet at Karnak, that 
the monarch had obtained a considerable spoil from the O . . , . rotout and 
Touhae or Dahae, in his twenty-ninth year, and in the thirtieth year of his 
reign had approached the fortress of Otsh, Eson, or Edom, in the land of the 
Roten or Lodan, with five ships ; in the thirty-first year mention is made of the 
Phit-rout, and the waters of the Oo . . .; in the thirty-third year he had been in 

* A cartouche or oval is the infallible sign of royalty. Two are generally placed together, 
one containing the prenomen or title and the other the name of the sovereign. 

Vol. I. 7 



50 EGYPT. 

the Roten, and obtained vast tribute from Naharaina, and a tablet was set up 
by his majesty in that kingdom ; mention is also made of the Romenn or Ermenn, 
and vast tributes ; and in the thirty-fourth year, of the capture of the fort made in 
the Oukesou, and the march of the king to the fortress of the Aranana. The tablet 
ends by a recital of the nations of the Naharaina and the Tahon. 

" In one of the tombs at Thebes, the black races of the Fount, or Libya, bring 
a tribute of monkeys, ivory, pard-skins, and fruit ; the people of Kaf or Kfou, an 
Asiatic red race, splendid gold vases; the people of Nubia and Kush, or ^Ethiopia, 
bags of gems, monkeys, skins, logs of ebony, elephants' tusks, ostriches' eggs, and 
feathers, a cameleopard, dogs, and oxen ; the Roten-nou or Lodn-nou, vases, 
chariots, horses, a white bear, an elephant, and ivory. These animals fix the 
people to the plains of Syria and Bactria, and the gloves particularly connect 
them with the Persian races. The king Thothmes receives the tribute, which is 
registered. Rosellini makes him reign twelve years, 1740 — 1727, B. C, and Sir 
Gardner Wilkinson, ten years, 1505—1495, B. C." 

The formation of Lake Moeris has been attributed to Thothmes III ; but 
Dr. Lepsius has proved that it was made by an earlier Moeris. This was one of 
the roost stupendous works of utility of which history has preserved the record. 

By means of canals and embankments the waters of the Nile at the period 
of inundation, were directed to a vast lake, which, by taking advantage of the 
direction of the levels, had been excavated in a swampy portion of Middle Egypt, 
to the west of the river, and nearly on the borders of the desert. When the 
inundation subsided, the waters were prevented from leaving the lake by means 
of flood-gates. 

As this lake, and the waters adjoining it, were hundreds of miles in extent, 
there was thus provided an immense supply of that w^hich is so essential to the 
fertility of Egypt ; so that the inconveniences resulting from an insufficient or 
superfluous inundation were easily remedied. The lake was called Moeris, after 
the matchless engineer who had designed it ; and Herodotus, who has preserved 
the account of it, also informs us that he erected tw^o pyramids in the midst of it, 
each having a colossal figure seated on the summit. These have long since 
perished; and the site of the lake itself, according to M. Linant, is now dry ground. 

Following Mr. Birch's analysis of the Tablet of Abydos,* the sixth king of 
the eighteenth dynasty was Amenoupt or Amenophis II., the Mephrathutmosis of 
the Greeks. His memorials are chiefly found at Kalabshe, Ibrim, the Wady 
Haifa, and the Sarabout-el-Kadam, on the Red Sea. He appears to have 
triumphed over the Ethiopians. His prenomen on the Tablet of Abydos, is 
Re-naa-terou, "^Ae sun, chief of worlds or rites.'" He reigned'^twenty-five years 
ten months, B. C. 1727—1702.1 

* Mr. Birch, with reference to certain varying interpretations of the Tablet, calls 
Thothmes III., Thouthmos III. or IV.; and he says that three successors intervene, on the other 
monuments, between this monarch and the preceding. His own explanation, we have already 
quoted in speaking of Queen Amoiin-noumhe, p. 49. 

\ Birch. 



AMOUNOPT III. 53 

Araenoupt II. was succeeded by his son, Thoutmos or Thothmes IV. or V., 
the Tmosis of the Greeks. This sovereign continued and finished the temple of 
Amada, and his name is found at Ibrim. He carried on war with the Libyans, on 
the south-east frontier of Egypt, anil conquered them in the seventh year of his 
reign. He added to the temple of Amoun-ra, at Thebes, finished the Heliopolitan 
obelisk (known as that of St. John of the Lateran, at Rome), which had been 
commenced by his predecessor, and excavated the Sphinx, on the plains of Mem- 
phis. He reigned nine years and eight months, B. C. 1702 — 1692. His prenomen 
is " the sun, establisher of rites or worlds.''^* 

Amounopt or Amenophis III., the Amenophis-Phamenoph or Memnon of the 
Greeks, was the eighth king of the eighteenth dynasty. According to the 
monuments, he was the son of Thothmes IV. and his queen Mantemwa. He 
was the founder of the palace at Luxor, and his name is inscribed on the vast 
building of the Amenopheion or Memnonium of the Greeks. He erected the 
celebrated statue of the vocal Memnonf and its pendant, and the temples at Soleb, 
in Nubia; and historical tablets are found of his reign at Beghe and Elephantina. 
He extended his conquests into Central Asia and Ethiopia. He reigned thirty 
years and ten months, B. C. 1692 — 1661. His tomb exists in the west valley of 
the Biban-el-Melook, at Thebes. 

Har-em-hbai (Hor us) , ninth king of the eighteenth dynasty, the son and successor 
of Amenophis III. and his wife Taia, assumed, on his elevation to the crown, the 
prenomen of " the sun, the distributor of rites, approved of the sun," and his 
name Har-em-hbai, that is, " Horus in his festival, beloved of Jimoun." His 
standard at Karnak is, "the victorious hull, overthrowing the f alien.''' His 
reign, of thirty-six years and five months, is placed B. C. 1661 — 1625. In the 

* Bircli. 

t We have given at the head of Section II., p. 31, a picture of the vocal statue of Memnon 
and its pendant. The statue of Memnon is the one on the left hand, the easternmost of the sitting 
colossi, which was for ages the wonder of the ancients, and has occasioned much controversy 
among modern writers; nor were the numerous inscriptions of distinguished visitors, which 
decide it to have been the Memnon of the Romans, sufficient to convince every one tliat this 
was the statue reported by ancient authors to utter a sound at the rising of the sun. Strabo, 
who visited it with ^lius Gallus, the governor of Egypt, confesses that he heard a sound, but 
could " not affirm whether it proceeded from the pedestal or the statue itself, or even from 
some of those who stood near its base;" and independent of his total disbelief, that it was 
uttered by the stone itself, he does not hint that the name of Memnon had as yet been given 
to it. The superstition of the Roman visitors, however, shortly after, ascribed it to the son of 
Tithonus, and a multitude of inscriptions testified his miraculous powers, and the credulity of 
the writers. The height of either colossus is forty-seven feet, or fifty-three feet above the 
plain, with the pedestal, which now buried from six feet ten inches to seven feet below the 
surface, completes to its base, a total of sixty feet. 

Mr. Wilkinson, from whose " Modern Egypt" the above account is extracted, found 
cavities in the statue of Memnon, large enough to conceal a person; and by actual experiment, 
proved that a blow on the sonorous block, produced a sound like the ringing of brass. The 
miracle was undoubtedly a contrivance of the Egyptian priests. 



54 



EGYPT, 




lists of Manetho, he is simply styled Horus, 
the rest being an adjunct of the name of the 
god. His monuments are found as high as 
Gebel-Addeh, in Nubia, where he had caused 
a speos to be excavated to Thoth, Anucis, 
Re, and Noura ; and in the quarries of Tennou 
or Silsilis, he is represented taken under the 
protection of Noura and female deities ; while 
in other scenes, he is represented there cele- 
brating festivals in honour of his conquest of 
Kush or ^Ethiopia. He continued the palaces 
at Luxor, and built the portico of two kinds 
n o B u s . of gigantic columns, which unite the two 

large courts of that edifice. The crios- 
phinxes, which formed the dromos in front of the four propyla of the spot called 
the Ruins of the South, at Karnak, are inscribed with legends relative to him. 
The fourth propylon, and the gate of large granite slabs, were also erected in his 
reign ; and amidst the historical conquests here is mentioned that of the Berber, 
or people of Barbaria in ^^thiopia. He also embellished and restored the Temple 
of Amoun-ra, in the valley of El-Assassif, at Thebes. Sir Gardner Wilkinson 
makes him Achencheres or Chebres, the Queen Maut-hem or Tmau-hem, the 
Tmau-mot of Rosellini, his wife, while Rosellini considers that lady to have been 
his daughter.* 

The tenth place in the succession of sovereigns of the eighteenth dynasty, is 
assigned to Tmauhot, the queen or daughter of Horus ; the eleventh to Ramos or 
Ramses I., son of Horus, the Rathoris or Athoris of the Greek lists. He continued 
the palace at Luxor, and the temple at Wady Haifa, and is mentioned in the 
second year of his reign as the conqueror of the Libyans. His prenomen is Re- 
neb-ro, " the sun, the lord of vigilance.''^ He reigned about nine years, and his 
tomb exists in the valley of the Biban-el-Melook, at Thebes, B. C. 1613— 1604.t 
Sethei Menephtah I., the son and successor of Ramses I., (represented by the 
two Akencheres of Manetho|), was the twelfth king of the eighteenth dynasty. 
" The furthest point," says Mr. Birch, " to which the monuments of Menephtah 
L extend, is Amada, in Nubia, where he restored the temple, and a small mono- 
lithic naos of him is found in the quarries of Silsilis. At Thebes, the ruins of the 
western bank, called the palaces of Gournah, may be considered a complete 
Setheion or Menephtheion ; but the name Memnonium, applied by the Greek 
writers to these buildings, is a perfect misapplication of the term." Memorials of 
Menephtah I. are also found at Medinat Haboo, Luxor and Karnak. In the 
latter place, his victories over the Shepherds of the East, the people of Ludim, the 
Syrians and Assyrians, are represented. He appears, also, to have carried his 



* Birch. 



t Ibid. 



I Rosellini. 



RAMSES II. 



55 




MENEPHTAH 



A3 PKIES^'. 



conquests to Edoin, Scythia aiul Babylon. 
He is stated to have extended the confines of 
the empire to the great waters of Naharaim 
or Mesopotamia, and on the other frontier to 
Libya and Nubia. In one grand scene, this 
monarch is represented as triumphing o\ei 
forty-two conquered nations and tribes. He 
reigned twenty-four years and eight months 
B. C. 1604— 1579. 

Ramos or Ramses II., the son and sue 
cessor of Menephtah I. (according to Cham- 
polUon and Rosellini, the predecessor and 
brother of Ramses III., but according to 
others, identical with him), was the thirteenth 

king of the eighteenth dynasty. He is the Armais or Armesses, the brother of 
Danaus, of the Greek lists. His memorials are found in the Setheium or palace of 
Sethei I., at Thebes, as well as at Luxor and Silsilis ; but the most important 
historical document of his reign, is the temple of Beit-oualli, near Kalabshe, in 
Nubia. It was destined to record the extent of his conquests ; for the sovereigns 
of Egypt sculptured their victories over the white races of Central Asia, amidst 
their black vassals of Ethiopia.* On the walls of the vestibule of this temple, are 
depicted, in coloured basso-relievo and cavo-relievo, the battles and conquests of 
the king. In one compartment, he is represented in his war chariot, charging and 
routing the Ethiopians in multitudes ; in another, he receives the tribute of the 
same nation after the conquest, the different animals and natural productions 
which form the tribute, indicating the region from which they come. Other com- 
partments in the same series, contain representations of his Asiatic conquests and 
triumphs, which appear to have extended to Syria, Assyria, Mesopotamia, and 
even to the Tanais. Ramses II. reigned fourteen years, B. C. 1579 — 1565. 

The illustration on the following page, of which the facts are taken from 
the monuments, and the figures thrown into perspective by the modern artist, will 
give the reader some conception of the mode in which the tribute of conquered 
nations was paid to the conqueror, and registered by his officers appointed for the 
purpose. This was a scene frequently repeated in the reign of Ramses II. 

Ramses II. was succeeded by his brother, Ramos or Ramses III. (Ramesses 
Miammoun). He is supposed to be the Ramesses of Africanus, and Ammesses 
of Eusebius, the Sesostris of some of the Greek writers, and TEgyptus of others. 



* A plaster cast of these tablets was taken by Mr. Bonomi, which is now in the British 
Museum. A splendid coloured plate from the cast, forms the principal embellishment of the 
"Gallery of Antiquities," to which we have already referred. The plate, with Mr. Birch's 
description, gives us the best conception of the splendour of Ej^yptian art, and of its minute 
accuracy and historical value, which can be obtained without examining the monuments them- 
selves, with the aid of a profound archaiologist. 



5() 



TRIBUTE BEARERS. 






^'^ ^?S>^.^' 



■A ^f^r If 




Following the historical sketch of Cham- 
pollion-Figeac, who quotes Manetho for his 
authority, we have placed a Sesostris in 
the twelfth dynasty. The sovereign called 
Sesostris the Great, however, is unques- 
tionably Ramses III. Under the name of 
Sesostris, says Birch, are, without doubt, 
combined the exploits of the whole eigh- 
teenth dynasty. The name of Sesostris, 
or Sesoosis, if a Grecianized form of an 
Egyptian expression, may be found in the 
adjunct Sotp-en-re, assumed by several of 
the monarchs of this line. The monu- 
ments, however, ascribe a series of exploits 
to Ramses III., which pronounce him the 
Napoleon of Egypt, the Sesostris to whom 
we may with the greatest propriety assign 
the title of Great. The duration of his 
sovereignty, B. C. 1565 — 1499, placed at 
sixty-six years and two months, and even 
sixty-eight years in the lists of Manetho, 
is confirmed by the testimony of the monu- 
ments, dates having been found from the 
second to the sixty-second year of his reign. 




R A M SES THE G R E A T . 



57 




RAMSES III. (tHI. GHEAl.) 



It would appear that Ramses the Great 
aimed at universal sovereignty, and he ulti- 
mately succeeded in conquering nearly the 
whole known world. *" For this purpose he 
raised a vast army, consisting of infantry and 
chariots. His first campaign was against the 
neighbouring nations of Ethiopia, whom he 
entirely subdued, and imposed upon them an 
annual tribute of ebony, ivory and gold. He 
then built a lleet of 300 ships, on the Red Sea, 
by the aid of which he took possession of all 
the islands and strong places on the eastern 
coasts, and passed through the Straits of 
Babel Mandel to India. At the same time 

his army traversed Asia, eastward through India to the Ganges, and northward 
through Scythia to the river Tanais. He afterwards entered Europe, and pene- 
trated into Thrace, and then returned to Egypt, along the eastern shores of the 
Mediterranean, leaving everywhere the record of his conquests on tablets, sculp- 
tured in the neighbourhood of the places which he had subdued.f This expedi- 
tion lasted nine years. 

" The Greek historians also relate, that on his return from this expedition, 
he ailorned Thebes and Memphis wath temples and palaces, far surpassing in 
magnificence those of any other Pharaoh that either preceded or followed him, and 
that he also built a temple in every city of Egypt, to their respective tutelary 
deities." The numerous remains of his monuments still existing in Egypt, Nubia, 
and other countries, render these statements credible. It was the boast of Ramses, 
that he did not allow a single Egyptian to be employed upon any of the pubHc 
works which he executed, but imposed this drudgery upon bondsmen and prisoners 
of war. 

As the national monuments of the Egyptians were only designed to record 
the events which reflected honour upon the country, it is not surprising that we 
find upon them no memorial of the departure of the IsraeUtes. It is only by a 
comparison of dates, therefore, that the period of this event is to be determined. 
Champollion-Figeac places it in the forty-third year of the reign of Ramses III.,| 



* Ancient Egypt of Rel. Tract Soc. 

t One of these tablets has been copied by Mr. Bonomi, at Nahar el Kelb, near Beyroot, in 
Syria, and published in the Transactions of the British Royal Society of Literature, Vol. III., 
part I. 

I Consequently the king must have survived this event twenty-five years. A strict inter- 
pretation of Scripture, however, does not require us to believe that the Pharaoh himself 
perished with his army. See Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, 
Vol. I., page .55. Wilkinson dates the exodus of tlie Israelites from Egypt in the fourth year 
of Thothmes III. 

Vol. I. 8 



.'58 EGYPT, 

at the period when lie was consecrating to the gods of Egypt the magnificent 
edifices at Aboosimbel. 

The extraordinary increase of the Hebrews in numbers and prosperity, 
naturally excited the envy of the Egyptians, who began gradually to devise means 
of afflicting them by hard labour. Affecting alarm at their numbers, the king 
suggested that so numerous a body of men, of hardy habits, might avail themselves 
of the absence of the Egyptian troops, and endanger the peace and safety of the 
country. He prudently determined, therefore, to obviate the possibility of such 
an occurrence. Like the captives taken in war, the Israelites were obliged to 
labour in the erection of public buildings for the Egyptian monarch. The kings 
of the eighteenth dynasty being native, were naturally solicitous to have the cities 
and monuments destroyed by the invading Hyksos rebuilt ; and the absence of all 
monuments prior to the time of the Shepherd kings, and the boasting statement 
with respect to all the works executed during the reign of Ramses III,, that 
no Egyptian had put his hand to their erection, lead us to the conclusion that this 
was the hard bondage, in mortar and brick, on which the Israelites were employed 
in Egypt. Knowing that a people with the habits of the descendants of Jacob 
could be brought only by compulsion to execute works held in detestation, the 
king appointed " taskmasters," whose own responsibilities rendered them very 
exacting in their treatment of these labourers. But the spirited Hebrews soon 
made their oppressors perceive that they were not to be crushed by a single blow, 
and new and stronger measures were resorted to. Observing that they multiplied 
the more in proportion as they were oppressed, the king determined effectually to 
prevent their increase, and ultimately to ensure their extinction as a separate race. 
When the midwives disregarded his edicts, more effectual means were resorted to 
for the destruction of all male Israelitish children. Whilst these efforts for the 
extirpation of the descendants of Jacob w^ere in progress, the Almighty was pleased 
to call into existence the future deliverer of his countrymen, and render the dangers 
to which his infancy was exposed the means of preparing him for the high office 
which was afterwards to devolve upon him. Moses w^as born, concealed for a 
time, and then exposed in a frail vessel to the mercy of the waters of the Nile, 
where he was found and adopted by the daughter of Pharaoh ; and instructed in 
all the learning of Egypt. 

The accession of a new king is supposed to have led to the repeal of the 
murderous edict against the infants of Israel, though the measures taken to render 
them subservient to the wishes of the Egyptians continued, and they were still 
employed in all manner of service. 

At his fortieth year, Moses appears to have been compelled to choose between 
the Egyptians and the Hebrews. The highest considerations of honour and grandeur 
tempted him to unite himself with the oppressors of his people. But he heeded them 
not. He took his part with the despised and afflicted bondsmen. " He refused to 
be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to sufTep affliction with 
the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season."* 

* Hebrews, xi. 24, 25. 



MOSES KILLING THE EGYPTIAN. 



59 




The court was now no 
longer a place for him. He 
went among his people, and 
was an eye-witness of their 
aflliction. The sight filled him 
with grief; the insolence of 
the petty overseers kindled his 
indignation. An Egyptian of- 
ficer atrociously maltreated an 
Israelite in his presence. He 
saved his countryman by slay- 
ing the oppressor. Hebrews 
only had seen the act. Would 
they betray the man who thus 
interposed in their behalf, at the 
risk of his life? The events 
of the following day convinced 
the patriot that they were suf- 
ficiently base to do so, and 
Moses fled. The account of 
the death of the Egyptian 
reached the ears of the king, 
who gave orders for apprehend- 
ing the offender. Moses, how- 
ever, had succeeded in placing the deserts of Arabia Petraea and the arms of the 
Red Sea between himself and his pursuers. While there, he married into ihe 
family of Jethro, and remained in exile forty years, forgotten both by the Hebrews 
and their taskmasters. His flaming zeal had been softened, so that he became 
" very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth." His backward- 
ness to undertake the mission to which he was now called was no less remarkable 
than his former zeal. From the burning bush he heard a voice saying, " I am the 
God of thy fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of 

Jacob I will send thee to Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring my people, the 

sons of Israel, from the land of Egypt." 

Surprised and unwilling, Moses, barefooted and with veiled face, answered, 
" Who am /, that / should go to Pharaoh, and that / should bring the sons of 
Israel from the land of Egypt ?" The assurance, " / will be with thee," and the 
promise of the aid of his brother Aaron, as a spokesman, prevented Moses from 
longer withstanding the divine appointment. 

The hesitation had been that of a man who was but too well aware of the 
heavy duties of the office to which he was called ; but when he had once under- 
taken to discharge them, all weakness and irresolution vanished. In the presence 
of the king, Moses stood forth firmly as the representative of that God who 



T n f: F ri Y r T I A_ M . 



60 E G Y 1' T . 

commanded Pharaoh, " Let m}' people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in 
the wilderness." The haughty king not only refused to obey his summons, but 
ordered the task of the Israelites to be increased. At a subsequent interview, the 
miracle of changing the rod of Aaron into a serpent, produced a series of contests 
between the Hebrew leaders and the Egyptian priests, the most extraordinary 
on record. Then followed the successive " plagues of Egypt," so vividly de- 
scribed in Holy Writ, after each of which an appeal was made to the king to 
" let Israel go." But regardless alike of the admonitions of the prophet and the 
sufferings of his people, Pharaoh resisted, until at last Moses proceeded to predict 
the death of the first-born. In his rage, the king ordered the prophet and his 
brother never to come into his presence again, on pain of death. Moses then 
joined his own people in Goshen. Four days elapsed before the threatened 
calamity fell upon Pharaoh and his subjects ; and the obdurate king had probably 
begun to suppose that the prophecy of Moses would remain unfulfilled. 

Meanwhile, Moses was actively engaged in making preparations for the journey, 
and in the institution of the feast of the Passover, for a perpetual memorial of the 
deliverance of the Israelites from the destroying angel, when he passed over or 
spared the houses of the Israelites, but destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians. 
It was founded to commemorate an event that had not yet taken place, and it was 
in the act of being celebrated for the first time, at the very instant when the 
occurrence happened which it was destined ever after to commemorate. While the 
Jews, in the posture of pilgrims about to set out upon a long and dreary journey, 
were eating at midnight the paschal lamb, the destroying angel w^ent forth in a 
pestilence, and smote all the first-born of the land of Egypt. And there was a 
great cry in Egypt, lamentation and bitter weeping, for there was not a house in 
which there was not one dead. The king, the nobles, and the people of Egypt, 
rose in sorrow from their beds. The groans of the dying and the shrieks of the 
living broke the stillness of that awful night — in terror and in confusion, the 
people imagined that all were doomed to destruction, and that the work of death 
would not cease till all had perished. Horror and alarm filled the bosom of the 
king, whose obstinacy had produced such dreadful effects. 

Every moment that the Hebrews remained, lost a thousand lives to Egypt, and 
in the midst of the night Pharaoh sent to Moses and Aaron, to go forth from among 
his people, with their flocks and their herds, and besought a blessing from the leader 
of the Israelites for himself. " We are all dead men," said the Egyptians, and they 
urgently pressed the Hebrews to depart, lending as eagerly as the Israelites borrowed 
their "jewels of gold and jewels of silver." " All that a man hath will he give for 
his life ;" and considering their fives in jeopardy, the Egyptians were so eager to be 
freed from their presence, that, between persuasion, bribery, and gentle compulsion, 
the whole body had commenced its march before daybreak, though it was not till 
midnight that the first-born had been slain. Hurried as they W'ere, however, the 
bones of the patriarch, Joseph, were not forgotten, but were borne away with them. 
Six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children, mounted on 



DEPARTURE or THE ISRAELITES. 63 

camels and asses, went forth from Egypt ; their moveables and tents being carried 
by beasts of burden, and their cattle being driven before them. A miraculous 
column of cloud went before and marked out their road by day, and at night 
became a pillar of fire, and gave light to all the camp. The first day's journey 
brought the people to Succoth, whence they proceeded to Etham, the modern 
Adjeroud. Thence, instead of passing around the head of the gulf, the host was 
led into a situation between the sea and the mountains, where their retreat could 
easily be cut off. 

Meanwhile, leisure had been afforded to the Egyptians to recover from their 
panic, and Pharaoh, hearing of the position which the Israelites occupied, " made 
ready his chariot and took his people with him," and endeavoured to make use of 
the advantage placed in his hands. In the night, the Israelites marched forward 
to the sea, the waters of which were divided from shore to shore. The pillar of 
fire moved to the rear of the Hebrews, and, whilst it prevented the Egyptians 
from seeing them, it gave light to the march of the Israehtes over the hard sandy 
bottom of the sea. Upon discovering that the Hebrews were in motion, the king 
determined to follow. In the darkness of the night, it is not probable that they 
knew they were led into the bed of the sea ; and when the day broke, and they 
were aware of their position, the Israelites had reached the other side. Nearly 
all the army of Pharaoh appears to have been in the midst of the sea, with the 
waters on either side, upheld by a power inimical to them. A furious warfare of 
the elements commenced ; the pursuers were alarmed, and said one to another, 
"Let us flee from the face of Israel, for Jehovah fighteth for them against the 
Egyptians." But Moses stretched his hand over the sea, and the restrained 
waters returned and engulfed them all. The Israehtes pursued their journey to 
the Promised Land, and the discomfited monarch returned to that city, whence he 
had so lately led forth his proud army to destruction. 

If the period of this great event is correctly determined by Champollion, 
Ramses III. survived it twenty -five years. According to the accounts of the 
Greek historians, his reign was troubled by an insurrection of his brother Armais, 
whom he left in the office of regent while absent on his foreign expedition. This 
disturbance, however, he speedily quelled. His old age, according to the same 
authorities, was rendered desolate by blindness, and he terminated his life by 
suicide.* This is precisely the species of facts which, from their nature, would 
not probably be recorded on the monuments. 

Ramses III. died B. C. 1499. The names of two wives of Ramses are found 
on the monuments — the Queen Nofre-areh Mei-en-maut, or " JYofre-areh, beloved 
of Muth," and another named Esi-nofre ; and there are also memorials of twenty- 
three sons and seven daughters of this celebrated monarch. 

Menephtah II. (Menophes), the thirteenth son of Ramses III., was his suc- 
cessor. He is the Amenophis of Josephus,t the father of Sethos. His prenomcn 

* Wilkinson. f Birch. 



()4 



EGYPT. 



is " the spirit of the sun, beloved of Amoun, Menephtah, offered in truth.^' His 
wife's name was Esi-nofre. The few historical memorials of his reign which exist, 
are found at Silsilis and Thebes, the principal monument being his tomb in the 
Biban-el-Melook. The period of his reign is not well ascertained. Rosellini 
makes it three years, B. C. 1499 — 1496. He is supposed to have been succeeded 
at his death by the Queen Tai-ousr, his daughter, who governed Egypt until her 
young brother was fitted for the task. Her husband, Siphtha-Menephtah, is not 
recognized in the monuments as king. 

Menephtah III. (Sethei IT.), the brother of Tai-ousr, was the sixteenth king 
of the eighteenth dynasty. His reign appears to have been short ; the nineteen 
years assigned to it in the list of Manetho, probably including that of Tai-ousr. 
His tomb is found in the valley of Biban-el-Melook.* 

The last king of the eighteenth dynasty was named Remerri, or Rhameri. 
The monuments preserve his name and that of his queen Ahmos-Nofrei ; but 
afford no records of his actions. The five years and three months of his reign 
complete the 348 years of the eighteenth dynasty .f 

The term dynasty appears to have had a different signification among the 
Egyptians from that which we now" give it ; for the first king of the nineteenth 
was the son of the last of the eighteenth. Some great change in the fortunes of 
Egypt is supposed to be indicated by this circumstance; and, indeed, both the 
monuments and the fragments of Manetho, combine to prove that a rapid decline 
in the power and resources of the country had been taking place since the time of 
Ramses the Great. What connexion there may have been between this decline and the 
misfortunes which, as the Sacred Scriptures inform us, fell upon Egypt at the time of 
the departure of the Israelites, it is not easy to determine; but the comparative weak- 
ness of the kingdom is clearly apparent from the events which occurred during the 
reign of the first king of the nineteenth dynasty, w^hich we now proceed to relate. 

Sethei (Sethos), the son of Rhameri, 
ascended the throne under the title of Ramses 
iMeiamoun. The reign of this prince was 
troubled by w^ars, and the king himself was 
celebrated for great mihtary enterpiises. Ac- 
cording to a fragment of Manetho, preserved 
by the Greeks, the Hyksos invaded Egypt 
during the reign of the father of Sethos, who, 
providing for the safety of his son, fled into 
Ethiopia. After the lapse of thirteen years, 
Sethos, then aged eighteen, raised an army, 
vanquished his enemies in Egypt, compelled 
them to fly to Syria, and enjoyed unmolested 
the royal authority. Sethos, it is added, was 




K .\ II S E S IV. M E I A M O "U N . 



Champollion-Figeac. 



f Itieni. 



RAMSES IX. 



65 



identical with Ramses Meiamoun. Another fragment states, that Selhos having 
collected a great naval and military force, set out from Egypt on a career of 
foreign conquest. Leaving his brother Armais to be regent, he marched into Asia, 
and after subduing Phoenicia, Syria, and the country of the Medes, changed his 
course to the eastward.* A letter sent by a priest, however, informed him that 
Armais had revolted, when Sethos immediately returned through Pelusium. Armais, 
hearing of his return, fled from Egypt. This narrative agrees with what the monu- 
ments record of Ramses Meiamoun, who is called the great conqueror ; the only 
naval battle of the monuments being dated during his reign.f The chronological 
lists would seem to fix the flight of Armais at about the year 1450 B. C, the time 
given by classical antiquity for the foundation of an Egyptian colony by Danaus, 
which fact, and the similarity of the names, seem to lead to the conclusion, that 
they both belong to the same person.| The palace of Ramses IV., at Medinat 
Haboo (Thebes), is one of the largest and most magnificently ornamented in Egypt. 
He died after a reign of fifty-five years, leaving a queen, Isis, whose tomb was 
built by his son and successor Ramses V. That monarch ascended the throne about 
1419 B. C, and reigned sixty years. He was succeeded by his brother Ramses 
VI., who reigned twenty years, and was followed by another son of Ramses IV., 
who occupied the throne five years, and bore the title of Ramses VII. His brother 
succeeded him, and reigned five years as 
Ramses VIII. The throne of Egypt was 
thus filled by the father and four sons in sue- jji 
cession, during 146 years, an occurrence un- 
paralleled in history. The last king of the 
nineteenth dynasty followed under the name 
of Ramses IX. This dynasty closed 1280 
B. C, after having occupied the throne 194 
years. The renewal of the cycle, and the 
fall of Troy, are said by Grecian writers to 
have signalized the period of its duration. 
Astronomers have computed that the Sothic 
cycle must have been renewed in the year 
1322 B. C, a year belonging to one of the 

reigns of the nineteenth dynasty ; and it is certain that the time given for the 
fall of Troy is contemporaneous with the reign of Ramses IX. 

The twentieth dynasty was composed of twelve Theban kings, who reigned, 
according to Manetho, 178 years. They were all named Ramses, the first being 




RAMSES IX. 



* It is considered an indication of the declining power of Egypt, that Ramses Meiamoun 
terminated these wars by treaties, instead of reducing the respective nations to unconditional 
submission. This altered state of things is clearly signified by the monuments. 

t Champollion-Figeac. 

I Champollion-Figeac. Other writers discredit this opinion. 

Vol. I. 9 



G6 



EC: YPT. 



the tenth of that name who had sat upon the throne of Egypt, and tne last the 
twenty-first. The twenty-first dynasty consisted of seven Tanite kings, the first 
of whom ascended the throne 1102 years before the Christian era. His name was 
Mandouftep, Mendes, or Smendis. The last was Psusennes, or Aasen II., who, 
according to Champollion, reigned thirty years. These two kings are the only 
ones deemed worthy of note by Africanus. The incapacity of the sovereigns of 
this dynasty, would seem to have invited some enterprising and ambitious family 
to seize upon the throne ; and we accordingly find a king from the city of Bubastis 
taking possession of it about 972 B. C, 128 years after the accession of Smendis. 
The " Pharaoh, king of Egypt," whose daughter was given in marriage to 
Solomon, receiving, as her dowry, the captured city of Gezer, is supposed to have 
been the last king of the twenty-first dynasty.* 

The name of the first king of the twenty- 
second dynasty was Sheshonk. His cartouche 
is Amoun-mai Sheshonk, " beloved of Amoim 
Sheshonk." He is the Sesonchis of Manetho ; 
and he was first identified by Champollion the 
younger, as the Shishak of the Scripture, 
who, " in the fifth year of Rehoboam, came 
up against Jerusalem, because they had trans- 
gressed against the Lord, with twelve hun- 
dren chariots and three-score thousand horse- 
and an innumerable multitude of " the 



men, 



Lubims, the Sukkiims, and Ethiopians," 
"took the fenced cities of Judah," " came to 
Jerusalem and took away the treasures of the 
king's house and carried away the shields of goldj'^'hich Solomon had made."t 

This remarkable transaction is recorded on the monuments at Karnak, where 
Champollion was also the first to point out, in a row of sixty-three prisoners pre- 
sented by the god Amoun-ra to Sheshonk, the figure of a captive bound, bearing a 
turreted oval, with an inscription which reads, Judah-Melek-kah, " king of the 
country of Judah.'''' % We could not have a more distinct record of the capture of 
a king of Judah in his walled city. 

The occasion of this interference in the political affairs of Judea, is also 
recorded in the Scriptures. In consequence of Jeroboam's having received, from 
the prophet Ahijah, the promise of a part of the kingdom, " Solomon sought to 
kill Jeroboam. And Jeroboam arose and fled into Egypt, unto Shishak, king of 
Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon." On being apprised of this 
event, Jeroboam returned ; the kingdom was dismembered ; and a war commenced 
between Jeroboam and Rehoboam. It was to support his guest and ally that 
Sheshonk marched into Judea, probably with the purpose of dethroning Rehoboam, 




SHESHONK. 



* 1 Kiiiffs, ix. 16. 



t 2 Chron. xii. 



\ Gliddon's Ancient Egypt. 



SIIESIIONK. 



07 




DAUGHTFR OF FriARAOH, 



and giving the whole kingdom to 
his rival. But the promises of God 
to the heirs of David could not 
fail ; and Rehoboam was permitted 
to retain the kingdom of Judah, 
while that of Israel remained a 
separate sovereignty under the 
sway of Jeroboam. This is not 
the only remarkable coinciilence be- 
tween the records of the Egyptian 
monuments and those of the Sacred 
Scriptures. The portrait of Pha- 
raoh's daughter, whom we have 
already referred to, as having been 
married to Solomon, is found on the 
monuments, as well as those of many 
other royal personages who are men- 
tioned in the Sacred volume. 

Sheshonk died about B. C. 948, after a reign of twenty-tw^o years. He was 
succeeded by his son Osorkon I. His cartouches are found at the gateway erected 
by the Bubastic monarchs, at Karnak. His prenoraen signifies " sun, guardian of 
truth, approved of Amoun^^ and his name is Amoun-mai Osorkon, " beloved of 
Amoun, Osorkon.'' " Some able critics," says Champollion, " have recognized 
him as the Zerah of Scripture ;" but it is now admitted, that, although contem- 
porary with that personage, he was not identical with him. He was succeeded by 
Sheshonk II., who reigned twenty-nine years, B. C. 936 — 907. Of the six 
remaining kings of this dynasty little is known. 

The twenty-third family of kings was of Tanite origin. The first two 
kings bore the names of Petubastes and Osorkon. Africanus remarks of them, 
that the Olympiads began in the reign of the first, and that the second was called 
by the Egyptians, Hercules. Two other kings intervened between the death of 
Osorkon and the accession of the twenty-fourth dynasty, of one king, Bocchoris, 
a native of the ancient and renowned city of Sais, whose colossal ruins attracted 
the admiration of Champollion the younger. This prince, described by Diodorus 
to have been despicable in person, but far excelhng all the kings of Egypt that 
were before him in wisdom and prudence, has been honoured with the appellation 
of " The Wise." 

His great quahties may be inferred from his having been the founder of a new 
dynasty, as well as from his abihty to maintain his position for forty-four years, 
during a period of national decline, when the country was suffering from multiplied 
internal disorders, as well as the attacks of foreign enemies. He is said to have 
reformed many abuses, and enacted salutary laws ; but the misfortunes of the times 
were too powerful for him. The Ethiopian king, Shabak (Sabaco), invaded Egypt, 



m 



EGYPT, 



and the unfortunate Bocchorls, the last as well as the first of his dynasty, was 
taken prisoner and burnt alive.* His conqueror became the founder of the twenty- 
fifth or Ethiopian dynasty .f 

It seems difficult to reconcile Manetho's account of Shabak's cruelty to Boc- 
choris, with his piety towards the gods, and the benevolent character which, 
according to Diodorus, distinguished this Ethiopian king from those who succeeded 
him. The Greek historian attributes to him the honour of abolishing capital 
punishment, as well as that of constructing immense roads, canals, and other vast 
works of public utility. 

After a reign of twelve years, B. C. 719 — 707, Shabak was succeeded by 
Shabatok (Sevechus), who is considered by Mr. Gliddon| to be identical with 
the So, king of Egypt, whose aid against Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, was 
unsuccessfully sought by Hoshea.|| His portrait, with the features of an Austro- 
Egyptian, or Meroite, is found in a small temple near Karnak, together with 
his cartouches, which read ^' Sun, establis her of the offerings" "Amoun-mai 
Shabatok."<^ His reign lasted twelve years, B. C. 707—695. 

fi The third and last king of the Ethi- 

opian dynasty, was Tahraka, the Tarakus 
of the Greek writers. He is proved by 
monumental evidence to be the Tirhakah, 
whose aid was relied on by Hezekiah, 
when his kingdom was invaded by Senna- 
1)1) cherib.1T Memorials of him, as well as of 
t his queen and his two daughters, are found 
in various parts of Egypt and Ethiopia. 

The names only of the first kings of 
the twenty-sixth dynasty are known. The 
first three, according to Manetho, were 
Stephinatis, Nechepsos and (Neko I.) 
Nechao.** Of the successors of Neko, 
Herodotus observes, that as the Egyptians 
could not live without kings, they chose 
twelve, among whom they divided the 
different districts of Egypt. These princes 
connected themselves together by inter- 
marriages, agreeing to promote the com- 
mon interest and never to engage in any 
acts of separate policy. The motive for 




T A n li A K A . 



* Manetho. t Champollion-Figeac. 

II 2 Kinjjs, xvii. 4. ^ Wem. 

H 2 Kings, xviii. xix. 24. 2 Kings, xix. 9. Isai. xxxvii. 9. 

** CliainpoUion-Figeac. 



I MS. Lectures. 



THE OFFKRING OF PS A M MET IC II U S, 



69 




THK OFFERING OF PSAMMETICTTUS. 



this union was to guard against the declaration of an oracle, that whoever among 
them should offer in the temple of Vulcan a libation from a brazen vessel, should 
be the sole sovereign of Egypt ; and it is to be remembered that they assembled 
indifferently in every temple. These twelve kings were eminent for the justice of 
their administration. Upon a certain occasion, they were offering sacrifices in the 
temple of Vulcan, and on the last day of the festival, were about to make the 
accustomed libation ; for this purpose the chief priest handed to them the golden 
cups used on these solemnities, but he mistook the number, and instead of twelve 
gave only eleven. Psamtnetichus (the Psametik of the monuments), who was 
the last of them, not having a cup, took off his helmet, which happened to be of 
brass, and from this poured his libation. The other princes usually wore helmets, 
and had them on the present occasion, so that the circumstance of this one king 
having and using his was accidental and innocent. Observing the action, and 
remembering the prediction of the oracle, the other kings minutely investigated 
the matter, thinking that he had acted designedly. Finding, however, that it was 
purely accidental, they did not deem him worthy of death ; but for their own 
security, deprived him of the regal power, and confined him to the marshy parts 
of his country, forbidding him to leave this situation or hold communication with 
the rest of Egypt. Psammetichus, writhing under the indignity, resolved to be 
revenged, and with this view sent to consult the oracle of Latona, at Butos. He 



70 



EGYPT. 



was answered, that the sea would produce brazen men to avenge his cause. 
Sometime after, a body of lonians and Carians, who had been engaged in a 
voyage of plunder, were compelled by stormy weather to land in Egypt, clad in 
their brazen armour. The ambitious monarch immediately conceived these to be 
the " brazen men" promised him by the oracle. He accordingly entered into an 
alliance with them, and having, by splendid promises, engaged them to unite with 
his Egyptian adherents, he vanquished the eleven kings, and made himself master 
of the whole country.* 

The liberal policy of Psammetichus towards foreigners, not only gave him the 
crown, but spread his fame in distant countries. His reign, says Champollion, is 
greatly celebrated by the writers of Greece, because he was the first of the kings 
of Egypt, who, freeing himself from the bondage of ancient customs, rendered 
access to the country easier to foreigners. He received great numbers of the 
Carians and lonians into his dominions, and gave them land and a rank equal to 
that of the military caste to whom they acted as auxiharies. He intrusted to their 
care young Egyptians, in order that they might be taught the Greek language, 
and act as interpreters between the two nations. It is from this period, says 
Herodotus, that we, the other Greeks, in our commercial relations with the 
Egyptians, have been able to learn exactly, by the aid of these interpreters, the 
history of Egypt during the reign of Psammetichus and his successors ; for the 
Greeks are the first foreigners who, speaking a language different from that of 
the country, have freely inhabited it.f 



* Wilkinson. 



■f Champollion-Figeac. 




A T 1' K M P L 1": AT i, D r O , 




ALEXANOaiA. 



SECTION IV. 

^ 1 e jt a a B e r ii)e 'ffi t c a t , 



t i) e 2 n t' a g i « n 9 f 




N acknowledgment of the assistance which he had received from the 
Grecian strangers, Psammetichus had conferred upon them certain 
lands, termed the Camp, opposite to each other, on hoth sides of 
the river. The Greeks continued to reside upon their lands, which 
were on the Pelusian branch of the Nile, below Bubastis, until the 
time of Amasis, who removed them to Memphis, in order to avail himself of their 
services against the Egyptians. They not only were the first foreigners whom 
the Egyptians received among them, but through them, a constant communication 
was kept up between Greece and the valley of the Nile.* 

The account given by Diodorus of the manner in which Psammetichus ob- 
tained the sovereignty, is different from that of Herodotus. According to his 
statement, which would appear to be more probable, the sway of Psammetichus 
extended to the Mediterranean, and the king availed himself of that circumstance 
to establish a commercial intercourse with the Phoenicians and Greeks. Having 
amassed considerable wealth by these means, the fears and jealousy of his colleagues 
were aroused, and they resolved to prevent the execution of any designs which he 
might form, by dispossessing him of his province. Psammetichus, hearing of their 
contemplated attack, was led to adopt measures which otherwise would probably 
never have presented themselves to his mind. Knowing that the strength of all 
the upper provinces would be exerted against him, he sent to Arabia, Caria, and 
Ionia, for numerous bodies of mercenaries. Placing himself at the head of these 



* Herodotus, ii. 147—154. 



(71) 



72 



EGYPT. 



and his native forces, he totally routed the troops of his enemies, in a battle fought 
at Momemphis, and compelled the other kings to fly to Libya. 

The reign of this celebrated king lasted fifty-four years. The circumstance 
of his elevation being effected by the aid of foreigners did not procure him 
much esteem in the eyes of his native troops, whose jealousies he unfortunately 
neglected to remove ; and two injudicious acts of his own caused an open 
rebellion. He prolonged the usual time of garrison duty of a portion of his 
troops in the frontier towns, where they continued three years without being 
relieved. He also deprived them of the post of honour in the Syrian war, 
assigning the right wing to the Greek troops, and the left to the Egyptians, 
Their indignation knew no bounds. Quitting the camp, they w^ere joined by 
other regiments that had remained in Egypt, and the whole body, to the num- 
ber of 240,000, abandoned the service of Psammetichus and retired into Ethiopia. 
Twenty-nine years were consumed by Psammetichus in the siege of the city of 

Azotus, which was taken before the defection 
of his troops. Psammetichus died B. C. 609, 
after a reign of forty-five years. His M'ife 
was named Nitocris. Her portrait is found 
on the monuments. 

Psammetichus was succeeded by his son 
Neko II. (Nechao), the Pharaoh Nechoh of 
Scripture, whose wars in Syria, recorded b}^ 
sacred and profane writers, have rendered 
him famous. Whilst he courted the Greeks, 
he rendered justice to the soldiers of his own 
I nation, giving them the precedence over 
foreigners. He fitted out fleets in both the 
Mediterranean and the Red Seas, and sent 
some of them with Phoenician pilots on a voyage of discovery round the coast of 
Africa ; he was thus the first to discover the peninsular form of Africa, twenty-one 
centuries before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, by Bartholomew Diaz, 
in 1487. According to Herodotus, he commenced reopening the canal from the 
Nile to the Red Sea, but afterwards discontinued it. He also turned his attention 
to the increasing power of Babylon, which he resolved to check. He marched 
along the sea-coast of Judea, intending to besiege the town of Carchemish on the 
Euphrates. Josiah, King of Judah, took off'ence at the passage of the Egyptian 
troops through his territories, and resolved to prevent it. Neko explained his 
intentions, and requested to be allowed to proceed quietly ; but his offered concilia- 
tion was spurned by Josiah, who posted himself in the valley of Megiddo, and 
prepared to attack the Egyptians. Neko routed them with great slaughter, and 
Josiah, being wounded in the neck during the battle, was conveyed to Jerusalem, 
where he died. Without stopping for further revenge, Neko pursued his original 
intention, and in three months returned victorious from the capture of Carchemish 




NITOCRIS. 



A P R I E S . 73 

and the defeat of the Babylonians. Learning that Jehoahaz had caused himself 
to be proclaimed king in the room of his father, Josiah, without consulting the 
pleasure or having the sanction of the King of Egypt, Neko deposed him, exacted 
a tribute from the land, and made Eliakim, the second son of Josiah, king in his 
stead. Four years afterwards he again advanced into Syria, where Nebuchad- 
nezzar met and defeated him, taking from him Jurlea and all the other possessions of 
Egypt in that country.* Neko was subsequently occupied with the defence of his 
own frontier till his death, which took place B. C. 603, after a reign of six years. 

Neko II. was succeeded by Psammetichus II. (Psametik II. of the monu- 
ments), of whose reign the records are few. " In his time, a deputation of the 
Eleians came to Egypt, to study the institutions of the country. He appears to 
have built a propylon at Memphis, and to have made constructions at Snem ; and 
the obelisk of the Minerva, at Rome, also is inscribed in honour of him. His 
reign occupied fifteen years, B. C. 603 — 588. He appears by the monuments to 
have had a wife named Shopenhop, and a daughter Neith-Akhor or Nitocris."t 

Psammetichus II. was succeeded by Apries (the Hophra Remesto of the 
monuments), whose name is written Vaphres or Uaphris, by Manetho, and Apries, 
by Herodotus and Diodorus. He is the Pharaoh Hophra of the Scriptures. His 
reio-n, as well as that of his predecessor, is remarkable and interesting in many 
respects. Both afford unquestionable instances of the fulfilment of prophecies. 
In the reign of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, the prophet Jeremiah predicted the 
capture of Jerusalem by the King of Babylon ; but his prophecy was disregarded ;| 
and Jehoiakim (the same Eliakim who had been placed on the throne of Judah by 
Neko II.), was subsequently dethroned and his capital taken by Nebuchadnezzar, 
who made Zedekiah, his brother, king over Jerusalem.] | Another siege of Jerusa- 
lem, in Zedekiah's reign, brought Hophra or Apries, the successor of Neko II., 
to the rescue. " Then Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt : and when 
the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from 
Jerusalem." Jeremiah now predicted that the Pharaoh's army should return to 
Egypt and the Chaldeans should come again, that Jerusalem should be burnt, and 
Zedekiah delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. This prophecy was 
fulfilled to the letter .§ 

On another occasion Jeremiah utters this remarkable prophecy, in which 
Hophra is distinctly named. " Thus saith the Lord : Behold, I will give Pharaoh 
Hophra, king of Egypt, into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of them 
that seek his fife ; as I gave Zedekiah, king of Judah, into the hand of Nebuchad- 
nezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life. "IT A similar 
denunciation is uttered by the prophet Ezekiel, against a king of Egypt, who is 
considered to be Hophra,** in which the exultation of the prosperous king and his 

* *2 Kings, xxiii. xxix. 34. 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. Jer. xlvi. 2. 2 Kin^s, xxiv. 7. 

t Birch. t Jsr. xxxvi. 1 — 32. 

II 2 Chron. xxxvi. § Compare Jer. xxxvi. and 2 Ciiron. xxxvi. 

IT Jer. xl. 30. ** Ezek. xxix. 4. 

Vol. I. 10 



74 EGYPT. 

future ruin are mentioned. These predictions seemed incredible, and were utterly 
disregarded by the people to whom they were addressed ; for, as we learn from 
the Greek writers, the reign of Apries, who is identical with Hophra, " was pros- 
perous during the first year of his government, beyond that of all his predecessors. 
Peace was secured at home by victories abroad. Apries warred by land with 
success on Sidon, vanquished the Tyrians at sea, and defeated the allied Cyprians 
and Phoenicians. He meditated the conquest of Cyrene, on the western side of 
Egypt, while, on the eastern frontier, the mere threat of his advance to protect 
Zedekiah, compelled the Chaldean to suspend his operations against Jerusalem. 
To human eye there was no symptom of decay in his empire. 

" Yet how inscrutable are the ways of Providence ! Within a few months 
of that hour, when, in the zenith of his might and pride of heart, he boasted of the 
Nile, ' My river is mine own, and I have made it for myself,'* the sure word of 
prophecy was fulfilled in his defeats, disgrace and death. On his eastern frontier, 
his ally, Zedekiah, King of Judah, was vanquished ; and the Jews, who looked to 
Egypt as their salvation, were carried into captivity by the Chaldean ; because 
the inhabitants of Egypt and their vainglorious monarch had been a staff of reed 
to the house of Israel.f On the western side, his expedition against the Libyans 
ended in a disastrous defeat ; while, disgusted at the reckless ambition which aimed 
at universal conquest, the Egyptians themselves raised the standard of revolt. 
The general, one of his ablest commanders, Amasis, who was sent to conciliate the 
rebels, proved traitorous to his master's cause, and suffered himself to be elected 
king by the antagonist soldiery. 

" Whilst Hophra collected around him the few of his Egyptian retainers who 
were still faithful to their allegiance, and hired Carian, Ionian, and other foreign 
mercenaries, to crush the portentous insurrection, he sent one of the most excellent 
and eminent of his nobles, to summon the rebels to their duty, with the pre- 
sumptuous mandate, to bring back the usurping Amasis alive into his presence. 
Failing in this mission, Patarbemis, the ambassador, without even a hearing from 
his arrogant and ungrateful master, was, by Hophra's order, subjected to the 
barbarous mutilation of his nose and ears. 

" Fired at this outrage on a man so venerated by the Egyptians, Hophra's 
friends deserted him ; and at Momemphis, in spite of the valour of his foreign 
legions, he was defeated and taken prisoner. The generosity of Amasis could not 
save him from the vengeance of the people ; and Hophra was strangled as a tribute 
to popular resentment and indignation."| 

This narrative, which rests on the authority of the Greek writers, is re- 
markably confirmed by the monuments. Hophra's titles and names, recorded on 
them in the days of his prosperity, read symbolically as follows : " Beneficent 
Deity, Lord of the World. Sun, who rejoices in his heart. Sun, who rejoices 
in equity.^' The same cartouche reads phonetically Hophra. But in those car- 

* Ezek. xxix. 4. t Ezek. xxix. 6. f Gliddon's MS. Lectures. 



AMASIS. 75 

touches in which the Egyptians, after his decease, were compelled-iiLthe ordinary 
routine of historical dates to advert to his reign, he is called Remesto/v/} 
interpreted " the abominable Pharaoh."* It is highly gratifying to find, as we do 
in numerous instances, the Sacred Scriptures receiving such accurate confirmation 
from the granite records of Egypt. 

Hophra was succeeded by his conqueror Amasis (Aahmes of the monuments), 
B. C. 588. His reign was prosperous. After regulating the internal affairs of the 
country, Amasis sent an expedition to Cyprus, and succeeded in acquiring pos- 
session of the cities of that island,! and subjecting it to his power; being the first 
who made it tributary to the Pharaohs. | He was very favourable to the Greeks, 
to whom he gave a settlement at Naucratis, and fixed places for the construction 
of altars and the performance of religious rites. Amasis was celebrated for his 
wisdom, and favoured Solon, who visited Egypt during his reign, with every 
facility for studying the laws of the country, many of which the sage afterwards 
introduced into the code which he formed for Athens. Amasis gave ample encour- 
agement to the arts ; and Herodotus speaks of a temple made of a single block of 
stone, which employed two thousand men to transport it from Elephantina to Sais. 
The whole country of Egypt bears marks of his love of the fine arts. 

" Towards the latter end of the reign of this monarch, Cambyses sent to Egypt 
to demand his daughter in marriage, a step to which he had been prompted by a 
certain Egyptian, an enemy of Amasis. This man was a physician ; and when 
Cyrus had requested of the Egyptian king the best medical advice he could 
procure, for a disorder in his eyes, Amasis forced him to leave his wife and family, 
and go into Persia. Meditating revenge for this treatment, he instigated his 
successor to require the daughter of Amasis, that he might either suffer affliction at 
the loss of his child, or by refusing to send her, provoke the resentment of Cam- 
byses. Amasis detested the character of the Persian monarch ; and persuaded 
that his treatment of her would neither be honourable nor worthy of a princess, he 
was unwilling to accept the overture ; but fearing to give a positive refusal, he 
determined on sending the daughter of the late king. Her name was Neitatis, or, 
as Herodotus calls her, Nitetis. She was possessed of great personal attractions ; 
and Amasis, having dressed her in the most splendid attire, sent her into Persia as his 
own child. Not long after, Cambyses happening to address her as the daughter 
of Amasis,' she explained the manner in which he had been deceived, by a man 
who had dethroned and put Apries (Hophra), her father, to death, and had seized 
upon the throne, through the assistance of a rebellious faction: upon which 
Cambyses was so enraged, that he resolved to make war upon the usurper, and 
immediately prepared to lead an expedition into Egypt. 

" Such is the principal cause alleged by Herodotus for his invasion of that 
country ; but it will not bear the test of examination. Nitetis is represented to 
have been sent to Persia towards the close of the reign of Amasis, which, according 

* Gliddon. t Diodorus. | Herodotus. 



76 EGYPT. 

to the historian, lasted forty-four years; and allowing her to have been born 
immediately before Apries was dethroned, she would have been of an age which, 
in Egypt and Persia, is no longer a recommendation, or the associate of beauty. 

" But whatever may have been the real motive for this war, it is certain that 
Cambyses was greatly exasperated against Amasis ; and Egypt, when invaded by 
the Persian monarch, was treated with unusual barbarity."* 

The death of Amasis, which happened six months before the arrival of the 
Persians (B. C. 569), prevented Cambyses from wreaking his vengeance upon his 
intended victim. Psammenitus (Psametik III. of the monuments), his son, had 
ascended the throne, and the storm that had been prepared for his father burst 
upon him. He immediately made great preparations for the defence of his fron- 
tier, and advancing with his Egyptian troops, and the Ionian and Carian auxiliaries, 
to Pelusium, he encamped in a plain near the mouth of the Nile. The Persians 
crossed the desert and took a position opposite that occupied by the Egyptians, 
and both sides prepared for battle. Phancs, a skilful Greek officer, had deserted 
to Cambyses, and given him valuable information for his conduct in entering the 
country. The Greeks, irritated with the treachery of Phanes, who had introduced 
the invader into Egypt, and wishing to show their resentment towards him, 
brought into a conspicuous place his two sons, and slew them over a large vase in 
the sight of their father. They then mingled wine and water with the blood ; and 
having all partaken of it, they rushed against the enemy .f 

The battle was fiercely fought, and victory seemed a long time doubtful ; but 
finally the Egyptians gave way and fled. Cambyses now hastened to Memphis; 
but wishing to obtain advantageous terms without another battle, he sent a 
Mitylenian vessel with proposals for treaty ; but the garrison of Memphis rushed 
in a crowd and tore the crew to pieces. Cambyses succeeded in capturing the city, 
when he put many of the inhabitants to the sword. The king was taken prisoner, 
and his young son, and two thousand Egyptians of the same age, being compelled 
to march in procession before the conqueror, were condemned to death, in retaliation 
for the murder of the heralds. Psammenitus himself was at first pardoned ; but 
he rashly provoked his death by entering into a conspiracy against the conqueror 
who had spared his life. J 

Egypt now became a province of Persia ; and Cambyses and his seven success- 
ors form the twenty-seventh dynasty, which swayed the sceptre 120 years and four 
months (B. C. 525 — 404). During this period several attempts were made to recover 
the sovereignty of Egypt, by her nobles; the most considerable of which appears to 
have originated with Amyrtaeus, of Sais (Hor-nasht-hbal of the monuments), who 
had been invested with the sovereign power, assisted by Inarus. Seizing the 
occasion of a confusion in the affairs of Persia on the death of Xerxes, they 
speedily freed the country of its oppressors. An army of 400,000 men and a fleet 
of two hundred sail were sent to reduce Egypt to its allegiance ; but the Persians 

* Wilkinson. f Idem. | Idem. 



NEPHERITES. 77 

were defeated, with the loss of one hundred thousand men and the death of their 
general. The remnant of the first army was reinforced by 200,000 foot and 
another detachment in three hundred ships, which increased its force to 500,000. 
A deadly conflict ensued, in which great numbers were killed on both sides. 
Inarus was finally wounded in the thigh by the Persian Megabyzus ; and the loss 
of their leader caused the Egyptians to despond. Soon after he left the field, they 
broke and were totally routed. Inarus, with a body of Greeks, took refuge in Byblus, 
where he was so strongly fortified as to obtain for himself and his companions a 
promise of pardon upon condition of surrendering. The King Artaxerxes, however, 
remembered that his first general had been slain by the hands of Inarus, and in 
retaliation he ordered him to be crucified. Amyrtaeus escaped to the Isle of Elbo, 
where he lay concealed, awaiting a change of affairs. Sarsamus was appointed 
Viceroy of Egypt, the Persian garrisons again took possession of the cities, and the 
kingdom continued in the power of the Persians until the tenth year of the reign 
of Darius Nothus.* 

Desirous of softening the yoke of the Egyptians, the Persians allowed the son 
of Inarus and the son of Amyrtaeus to hold the office of governors, or tributary 
kings ; but this measure failed of its object, the Egyptians being unable to look 
patiently upon the Persian garrisons in their cities, or to pay tribute to a foreign 
prince. They made secret preparations to revolt, and invited the exiled Amyrtseus 
to put himself at their head. He accepted the invitation, advanced from his 
place of concealment, routed his enemies, took Memphis, and was acknowledged 
sovereign of all Egpyt. 

Amyrtseus, and his former colleague, Inarus, were the only kings of the 
twenty-eighth dynasty (B.C. 404 — 398), according to Manetho; but, before the 
first king of the twenty-ninth dynasty, Diodorus names another monarch called 
Psamrnetichus or Psamaticus, whose character was cruel and despotic. The arts 
had now been for some time continually on the decline. The followers and suc- 
cessors of Cambyses, who not only put the new god Apis to death with a blow of 
his dagger, but shattered the head of the vocal statue of Memnon on suspicion of 
priestly imposition, were not likely to spare the rich monuments and temples of 
the country which they had conquered ; and many of the finest buildings were 
mutilated and destroyed. 

Nepherites (Nophrophth of the monuments, B. C. 398 — 392), was the first 
king of the twenty-ninth dynasty of Mendesian kings. He is remarkable only for 
having entered into an alliance with the LacedBemonians, sending a fleet of one 
hundred ships to their aid. He was succeeded by Achoris (Hakor of the monu- 
ments, B. C. 392 — 379), during whose reign, by a fortunate concurrence of foreign 
affairs, Egypt was enabled to enjoy perfect security from the threats of her enemy. 
Psammoutis (Psimaut), was the third king of this dynasty. He reigned one year, 
and was followed by two other kings, with whose reigns of a few months ended 
the duration of the twenty-ninth dynasty, B. C. 378.1 

* Wilkinson. j Idem. 



78 EGYPT. 

The fust king of the thirtieth was Nectanebo I. (Nakhtnebf* of the monu- 
ments, B. C. 377 — 359), a Sebennyte king, who occupied the throne eighteen 
years. He successfully repelled a formidable Persian invasion, and afterwards 
devoted himself to the improvement of the arts of Egypt. He was succeeded by 
Teos, or Tachos, who was scarcely seated on the throne, when he was threatened 
with another invasion. He applied to Sparta for assistance, and Agesilaus generously 
repaired in person to Egypt, with a strong body of Greek auxiliaries. His great 
miHtary reputation had excited high expectations in the breast of Tachos, who 
looked for a person of striking exterior. When a little old man, of apparently 
contemptible figure and habits, was presented to him as the Grecian king, he 
treated him with scorn and disrespect, and refused him the post of generalissimo, 
which had been promised him. Assigning him the command of the auxiliaries, 
and intrusting the fleet to Chabrias the Athenian, he took the chief command upon 
himself. He refused to take the advice of the brave Spartan relative to the move- 
ments of the army, but led his troops in person into Phoenicia, whilst a viceroy go- 
verned the kingdom in his absence. As soon as he was sufficiently distant, his uncle 
Nectanebo revolted, and Agesilaus, incensed at the treatment he received, deserted 
him. Tachos fled to Sidon, leaving his viceroy to oppose the enemy. Gathering a 
large number of followers, he attacked Nectanebo, with 100,000 men. This force, 
though greatly superior in numbers to the insurgents, was composed principally of 
tradesmen and citizens, and Nectanebo II. by following the advice of Agesilaus, 
gained an easy victory, and ascended the throne, B. C. 357. Soon after his 
accession, he entered into a league wuth the Sidonians and Phoenicians, and aided 
them in throwing off the Persian yoke. Artaxerxes Ochus, King of Persia, now 
marched at the head of his army into Phoenicia, which he speedily reduced. 
Mentor, with 4000 Greeks in Nectanebo's service, went over to his side, and 
Ochus invaded Egypt itself. The king did all that could be required of him for 
the defence of the country, and a severe contest ensued. The superior numbers 
of the Persians, however, triumphed in the end. Nectanebo was defeated, 
Pelusium surrendered, Memphis fell into the hands of the conqueror, and the 
fallen monarch fled into Ethiopia.! 

Ochus seemed now only intent upon exceeding the cruelties committed by 
Cambyses. That conqueror had stabbed the bull Apis with his dagger. Ochus 
caused it to be slain and served up at a banquet, at which he and his friends 
partook. Wanton murders, injustice, irrehgion, and persecution, were his amuse- 
ment and delight; and his inhuman tyranny caused all Egypt to groan. He 
reigned but two years after his conquest. Ochus and his two successors formed 
the thirty-first dynasty of Manetho. In the year 332 B.C., the invasion of 
Alexander of Macedon put an end to the Persian dominion. The Egyptians had 

* A small statue of Nakhtnebf, found at Memphis, was presented to the British Museum, 
by Colonel Vyse. 
t Wilkinson. 



ALEXANDER. 79 

often fought under the same banners with the Grecians, and the arrival of Alexander 
was universally welcomed with demonstrations of the strongest friendship, and 
considered as a dispensation of the gods on their behalf; and so wise and con- 
ciliating was the conduct of the early Ptolemies, that they almost ceased to regret 
the period when they were governed by their native princes.* 

The independent national existence of the Egyptians, may be considered to 
have terminated with the invasion of Cambyses. Our notices of the Ptolemaic 
and Roman periods of Egyptian history will be included in other parts of this work.f 

* Wilkinson. 

t Before leaving this subject, I copy from an anonymous work, already cited, (Antiquities 
of Egypt, London, 1841), a few remarks on the art of design, as exhibited in the Egyptian 
monuments. 

" The purpose of the Egyptians in their use of the art of design was very different from that 
of the Greeks, from whom modern art has been altogether derived. It was not to excite the 
imagination, but to inform the understanding; not to give pleasure, but to convey facts, that 
painting and sculpture were employed in Egypt. According to Clement, of Alexandria, an 
Egyptian temple was ypajU;ua, " a writing ;" it addressed itself to the mind in the same man- 
ner as a book. And, to proceed with the metaphor, the groups of figures which covered it 
with their hieroglyphic explanations were the several chapters or sections of which the book 
was composed. So that it was designed to be a written record of the historical facts which 
led to its erection, and of the Mythic fables, in conformity to which it was dedicated. 

"It will usefully illustrate the extent to which this mode of speaking of an Egyptian 
temple was literal rather than metaphorical, if we give here some account of the devices 
which were engraved at the entrance, generally on the propyla, which are two truncated 
pyramids placed on either side of the gateway. On each of these was designed a gigantic 
figure of the Pharaoh by whom the temple was built, grasping with his left hand the hair of 
one or more captives who are kneeling before him, and brandishing a sword or club in his right 
hand. These captives represent the nations who were conquered in the war, the events of 
which are detailed on the walls in the interior of the temple, and whose spoils had contributed 
to its erection, having been consecrated to that use by the conqueror. So that these designs 
really answer the purpose both of title pages and tables of contents. We subjoin (at the end 
of this chapter) an example, which is the title page to the cave at Aboo-simbel. 

" The four lines immediately above the hero in the act of striking, the second of which is 
somewhat defaced at the top, read — ' The living good god, the glorious guardian, smiting the 
south country'' (that is, Africa), ' treading down the north country^ (that is, Asia ; some of the 
captives he is smiting have the features and complexions of Africans, others of Asiatics: the 
walls of the temple itself are covered with an immense scene, representing his campaigns in 
both these continents), ' the victorious king cometh smiting with the sword the boundaries of 
all the nations of the world.'' Then follow the names of the hero, ' The lord of the world 
{sun, guardian of justice approved of the sun, Sesostris). The lord of Egypt, (Ramses, be- 
loved of Amoun'). Immediately above his head is Harn-hat, the celestial sun, the symbol of 
sovereignty. The vulture holding a ring in its claws is the symbol of victory. The two 
columns immediately under his arm, read — ' King of an obedient people, the righteous Horus, 
lord of the sword. Devoted to Seben (the goddess of victory, the vulture), living lord of the 
toorld, loho is in this cave, his glorious habitation.^ On the left is the god Amoun, to whom the 
cave is dedicated, holding out a sword to Sesostris. Over him is written, ' Thus saithAmmin-ra, 
the lord of the thrones of the world, Take thy sword, smite with it ; we have given thee to 
tranquillize the south country, Africa; to conquer the north country, to trample under foot all 



80 



EGYPT. 



the evil races of the loorld ; to muUiplij thy great halls beyond the boundaries of Egypt.' 
Aboosimbel is not in Egypt proper. The last phrase is obscure. 

" The paintings in tiie tombs have also the same design. They represent supposed facts : 
the events of the life of the deceased, or the adventures of his soul after death. Clearness 
of idea, therefore, not pictorial effect, was the primary object of art in Egypt. 

"The state of the arts of design among the Egyptians was entirely modified by this cir- 
cumstance. Their artists made their imitations of nature sufficiently close to convey the 
intended idea with clearness and precision ; and when that was attained, they had no motive 
for attempting any further improvement. It is the different degrees of accuracy which dif- 
ferent objects require, in order that the picture may convey a clear and unequivocal idea to 
the mind, that doubtless has produced the singular unevenness (so to speak) which charac- 
terizes the remains of Egyptian art. For example : but little pains is generally taken with 
the human figure ; its details are given imperfectly and incorrectly. And for an obvious 
reason. A very rude sketch will suffice to convey the idea, so that mistake shall be impossible ; 
and that was generally all the artist wanted. But, in the same column or group with these ill 
drawn figures, the birds are often executed with a fidelity and spirit which can only be attained 
by the careful study of nature, and which could hardly be surpassed even by modern artists ; 
and the reason is equally obvious. All this accuracy is required in order to the clear specifi- 
cation of the bird intended. Instances, moreover, are not wanting of Egyptian statues in 
which the details of the human form are more carefully attended to ; and the Egyptians 
evidently excelled in the art of taking portraits, which was one of their modes of specifying 
the individual man or woman they intended to represent. The features of several of the 
Pharaohs are well known and easily recognized wherever they occur. So that it was not 
from any defect in the national taste or capacity that the productions of art in Egypt are inferior 
to those of Greece, but because of the very different purposes for which the arts were cultivated 
in the two countries." 





CHAPTER II. 

ETHIOPIA. 




SECTION I. 

HE name of the nation whose part m the history of mankind 
we come now to consider, is derived from an expression used by 
the Greeks for everything which had acquired a dark colour 
from exposure to the sun. Many different tribes naturally came 
under this denomination ; but we propose to confine ourselves to 
the Ethiopians of Africa, who have already been brought fre- 
quently into view by their intercourse with the inhabitants of Egypt. This people 
occupied a tract of land lying along the Arabian Gulf, and extending far inland. 
Most of the historical monuments of the country are found on the banks of the 
Nile. Immediately above Syene, says Herodotus, the Ethiopians are mixed with 
the Egyptians, but at the distance of seventy or eighty miles, Ethiopians alone are 
found. These he divides into two classes, the inhabitants of Meroe and the 
Macrobii. Other ancient authors, however, make further divisions of the people. 
Among the most remarkable of these are the Troglodytes, or dwellers in caves; a 
powerful and somewhat civilized race of shepherds, who occupied natural or arti- 
ficial caverns in the mountains, which form the eastern coast of Africa. 

The Macrobians, or long-lived people, possessed the greater part of the 
Abyssinian territories, and carried on an extensive trade in gums, myrrh, frank- 
incense, and slaves. They were principally famed as the objects of a warlike 
expedition of Cambyses. They were reported to possess great quantities of gold ; 
to obtain which, the Persian conqueror determined to march against them. Pre- 
vious to setting out with his army, he sent some spies into their country from the 
Vol. I. 11 (81) 



«2 ETHIOPIA. 

nation of Ichthyophagi, or fish-eaters, who lived along the coasts of the Red Sea, 
and were the lowest of all the Ethiopians in the scale of civilization. These 
Ichthyophagi, who understood the language of the Macrobii, represented them as 
a tall and beautiful race, possessed of their own laws and institutions, and electing 
the man of the greatest stature and proportional strength among them, to the 
dignity of king. *Cambyses, having imparted the necessary instructions to these 
ambassadors, gave them, as presents to the king, a robe of purple, necklaces and 
bracelets of gold, an alabaster vase of ointment, and another vase of palm wine. 
The Ichthyophagi, when introduced to the king, presented their offerings, and 
addressed him thus : " Cambyses, King of the Persians, desirous of being your 
friend and ally, sent us to you with these gifts, in the use of which he takes great 
delight."! The Ethiopian king saw clearly through the artifice of the Persian 
conqueror, and answered the ambassadors, " It is not that the King of the Persians 
esteems so much my friendship, that he has sent you to me with gifts ; neither do 
you speak truly, for you have come to spy out my kingdom. Neither is he a just 
man. If he were just, he would not covet the country of another, nor wish to make 
slaves of those who have in no way offended him. Present to him this bow, and 
tell him that the King of the Ethiopians gives this advice to the King of the 
Persians. When he is able to manage such large bows with as much facility as I 
do, then let him conduct an army against the Egyptian Macrobians ; but one 
superior to them in number. In the meantime, thank the gods for not putting it 
into the minds of the Egyptians to usurp the states of others." He then unbent 
the bow and gave it to them. Taking the purple vest into his hand, he asked 
them what it was, and how it was made. When they had told him the truth of 
the purple and the colouring, he said that they were deceivers, and their garments 
deceitful. On his inquiring about the necklaces and bracelets, the Ichthyophagi 
told him that they were ornaments. He laughed, conceiving them to be chains, 
and said that he had chains much stronger than those. He said the same of the 
ointment as of the vest. He learned how the wine was made and its use ; and 
being pleased with the trial which he made of it, he asked on what things they 
lived, and what was the longest period of the life of a Persian. They answered 
that the king lived on bread, explained the nature of corn, and fixed eighty years 
as the greatest length of a Persian life. The Ethiopian answered that he was 
not surprised, that subsisting on mud, they should live so few years ; that neither 
would they live so long were it not for the wine, and added, " For in this only are 
the Persians superior to the Ethiopians." 

In answer to the questions of the Ichthyophagi, respecting his people's food, 
and manner of life, the king said that his people lived on meat and milk ; that the 
greatest part of them lived to the age of one hundred and twenty years, and some 
even longer. When they expressed surprise at this, the king conducted them to a 
fountain, after bathing in w^hich, they became more vigorous, and shining as with 

* Hoskins. t Herodotus. 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 83 

oil. From the statement of the king respecting their longevity, they derived their 
Greek name Macrobii (long-lived). On the return of the spies, the enraged Cam- 
byses commenced his march against them, without preparation ; but before he had 
performed one-fifth part of the journey, his provisions failed him, and he was 
obliged to return. 

If we discard in this narrative what bears the stamp of fiction, " we can 
easily recognize in the account of the Macrobians a powerful nomad tribe in 
possession of the gold country, which was the great attraction to Cambyses."* 
Hoskins supposes them to have been blended with the 240,000 soldiers who 
deserted from Psammetichus, and had a territory assigned them, according to 
Herodotus, sixty days journey from Meroe. 

Along the banks of the Astaboras, a tributary to the Nile, dwelt another 
nation, who lived on the roots of reeds growing in the neighbouring swamps. 
Besides these, there were other tribes, who lived upon fruits and vegetables, the 
flesh of wild beasts, elephants, ostriches, and locusts. They derived their names 
from the nature of their food, which, according to Diodorus, caused them to die of 
verminous diseases. This remark has been repeated by the celebrated Bruce, 
who found the Ethiopian tribes still in the condition in which they were in the 
days of Diodorus, subsisting on the same kind of food, and bearing appellations 
derived from the name of that food. The Ethiopians were intimately acquainted 
with the Egyptians in the early ages of the monarchy, and we have seen that 
many of the kings of that country were of an Ethiopian origin. In the regions 
above Egypt, there were all the gradations, from the complete savage to the hunting 
and fishing tribes, and from these to the herdsman and shepherd ; but there was 
also a civilized Ethiopian people, dwelling in cities, possessing a government and 
laws, and acquainted with the use of hieroglyphics, the fame of whose progress in 
knowledge and the social arts had, in the earliest ages, spread over a considerable 
portion of the earth. 

The Nile, before its confluence with the Mugrum or Astaboras, runs through 
an irregular valley, formed by two chains of hills, which sometimes retire back, and 
sometimes advance to the margin of the river. Where the soil of this valley has 
been protected, it still continues as fertile as that of Egypt ; but in many parts of 
the country the sand of the deserts has overcome the scanty barrier of hills on both 
sides, and forced its way into the valley, where many of the monuments are either 
partially or wholly buried. The sad change effected by the sands is apparent 
from the traces of canals and other public works still existing. The Nubian 
valley, between the junction of the Nile with the Astaboras and Syene, was at 
different times subject to the Ethiopians of Meroe and the Egyptians. Naviga- 
tion is so much impeded by the windings of the river, and the intervention of 
rapids and cataracts, that communication is chiefly maintained by caravans. At 
the southern extremity of the valley the river spreads itself, and incloses a number 

* Hoskins. 



84 ETHIOPIA. 

of fertile islands. The beauty and sublimity of the monuments of Thebes, are 
rivalled by the stupendous works which succeed each other along the whole course 
of the Nubian valley. 

The productions of the valleys of Ethiopia and Nubia, are not materially 
different from those of Egypt. Beasts of prey are here more numerous and 
ferocious than in the valley of the Nile, and scorpions, and a species of gad-fly, 
with some other venomous animals, are so numerous as to render particular dis- 
tricts almost uninhabitable. The island of Meroe, as it was called, from its being 
nearly surrounded by rivers, possessed an abundance of camels, which were little 
used in Egypt. The Meroites, like the Egyptians, were accustomed to receive 
tribute in kind from conquered tribes and nations. Much of the produce of this 
branch of revenue, found its way down the Nile into Egypt. The great amount 
of spices annually required for embalming the thousands of Egyptian dead, the 
incense burned upon the sacred fires, and the ivory and ebony used in the manu- 
factures of both Greeks and Hebrews, appear to have been all furnished by the 
Meroites, who received them from tribes in the interior of Africa, either as tribute 
or in exchange for other commodities. 

Meroe had better harbours for Indian commerce than Egypt ; not only were 
her ports on the Red Sea superior, but the caravan routes to them were shorter, 
and the dangerous part of the navigation of the sea was wholly avoided.* Her 
pyramids surpass those of Middle Egypt in architectural beauty, though they are 
inferior in size. In describing one of the porches or porticoes, Mr. Hoskins states 
that the roof is arched in regular masonic style, with what may be called a key- 
stone. It consists of four or five stones alternately, but notwithstanding this 
irregularity, the principle is the same, the stones being held together only by 
lateral pressure. The style of the sculpture and the hieroglyphic names of 
kings, are supposed by Hoskins to be more ancient than those of Egypt. The 
sculpture is in a peculiar style, which cannot be called good : the figures pos- 
sessing a rotundity of form not found in similar Egyptian representations, and 
being badly grouped together; showing a great deterioration from the Egyptian 
style. The Ethiopian vases depicted on the monuments, though not richly orna- 
mented, display a taste and an elegance of form, not even surpassed by those of 
Egypt. It does not appear that fabrics w^ere woven so extensively in the valleys 
of Ethiopia as on the banks of the Nile ; but the manufactures of metal were as 
flourishing ; for the Ethiopians were early acquainted with the use of iron, and the 
war chariots graven on the Ethiopian monuments, appear to be more gracefully 
built than those on the Egyptian. The recent explorations of Dr. Lepsius, 
have settled the question of the comparative antiquity of the Ethiopian and 
Egyptian monuments. The former belong to a period not anterior to the 
Ptolemies; this sufficiently accounts for any superiority of workmanship which 
may appear in their construction. 

* Taylor. 



<^sfif^^^5t>?<^. '<gf^^^'^'^'^^'^^''^'^fi[*'^-^^ - -^" '■ ">" 







GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 



87 



The greatness of Meroe is to be ascribed less to its agriculture and manu- 
factures than to its commerce. It was the mart for the north, the south, the east 
and the west, and the fertility of its soil enabled the inhabitants to purchase 
foreign luxuries with native productions. The changes, however, in the lines of 
trade, the devastations made by invasions and cruel wars, the encroachments of 
the sand of the deserts, and the plunder and oppression of its citizens, by the 
nomad hordes, all combined to originate and hasten the decline and ruin of the 
once powerful empire of Meroe. 

The wild tracts in the neighbourhood of Meroe, are tenanted by a great 
variety of animals, which have in all ages afforded employment to the numerous 
hunting tribes of the country. The beautiful giraffe, the gazelle, and a species of 
antelope, called the cow of the desert, are all found here in abundance ; and herds 
of elephants live in Abyssinia, not far from the southern confines of Meroe. 





SECTION II. 




ISTORICAL evidence of the wars between Egypt and 
Ethiopia, during the eighteenth dynasty, is afforded by the 
monuments of the former country. Some of the temples in 
Ethiopia also are worthy of notice, on account of the light 
which they throw upon a portion of the early history of 
1 that country. The temple of Semneh was built by Thoth- 
mes III. It consists of a single room, twenty-eight feet by ten, with a plain 
front, in the centre of which is the entrance. Its exterior sides are ornamented 
with square pillars and one polygonal column. This temple is more remark- 
able for its situation than for its beauty. Unlike other temples of the country, 
it faces the south, and it is surrounded by a large irregular brick enclosure, 
the walls of which are seven feet thick, and of Roman construction. On the 
eastern side are three square pillars, on the western side but one square pillar, 
one column, and the base of another. The interior and exterior of this little 
temple are covered with sculptures and hieroglyphics. The names of Thothmes 
III., Sun, estahlisher of the world, are everywhere visible on the walls. That 
king is represented making offerings to his ancestor Osirtasen, who is seated as a 
divinity, in the hoat of the sun, with the crook and lash of Osiris in his hands.* 
On the other side of the river is another temple, built by Thothmes to Kneph. 
Amounopt III., the Memnon of the Greeks, left the temple of Soleb as a monu- 
ment of his victories over the Ethiopians, and his long possession of their country. 
This temple, at a distance, has the appearance of a Grecian edifice, but a nearer 
approach shows it to be purely Ethiopian. The plan of the temple is beautiful, 
and its architecture chaste ; but there are few sculptures or hieroglyphical tablets 
upon its walls. Every part of the propylon which remains, proves it to have 
been constructed with an economy of material rarely seen in the temples of Egypt. 
The second court of the temple is ninety feet long and one hundred and thirteen 



* Hoskins's Travels in Ethiopia. 



(88) 



TEMPLES OF ETHIOPIA. 91 

feet wide, and was ornamented with twenty-eight columns, arranged in one row 
on the north, south, and east sides, and two rows on the west. The circum- 
ference of these columns is nineteen feet four inches. The next court was once 
ornamented with thirty-two columns, the northern and southern rows having been 
doubled. Not one of them is now standing. The next chamber contained twelve, 
only one of which remains perfect. Near the base of these columns, on the north 
side, are representations of prisoners, whose features are fine, and not of the negro 
cast. On the opposite side are represented other prisoners, with long hair tied in 
a knot below the crown of the head. They are apparently negroes, having wide 
nostrils, thick lips, and high cheek-bones. All these prisoners are represented with 
their heads and busts resting upon ovals, in which are inscribed the names of the 
countries whence they come. The only one of these which can now be deciphered 
is Mesopotamia, in hieroglyphics. 

The king, in many places, is represented as making offerings to the different 
gods, particularly to Araoun-ra, to whom the temple is dedicated. The sculp- 
tures, however, are scarcely distinguishable, owing to the extreme softness of the 
stone, to which also must be attributed in a great measure the ruined state of 
the temple. The remains of the city extend for a considerable distance both 
to the north and south. The ruins of wharves and piers, prove it to have 
been a city of considerable importance, and its situation, directly on the route 
of those who crossed the desert as well as those who followed the river, was 
most advantageous. 

The successor of Amounopt III., the Memnon of the Greeks, was Horus, 
and he is supposed by Hoskins to have ruled over part of Ethiopia ; but Herodotus 
declares Sesostris to be the only Egyptian king who effected the complete sub- 
jugation of the country. The name of that mighty conqueror is found in the Arab 
burial-ground at Gibel-el-Birkel. Diodorus gives an account of a king called 
Actisanes, who, profiting by the internal dissensions of Egypt, invaded that king- 
dom, and built Rhinocolura ; but this statement is not verified by the other great 
historians, nor can it be made to agree with their account of the history of Egypt. 
About this time, however, there reigned over the Ethiopians another king, whose 
name is familiar to the classical scholar ; Memnon, the son of Aurora, and the 
brother of Priam, the most beautiful of warriors, who killed Antilochus at the 
siege of Troy. 

In the eleventh century before the Christian era, Semiramis, the Assyrian 
queen, invaded Ethiopia; but notwithstanding her celebrity both in arts and arms, 
she does not seem to have had much success in her attempts to subdue this country. 
Diodorus mentions her admiration of a wonderful lake, one hundred and sixty feet 
square, of a vermilion colour, which sent forth a delicious odour not unlike old 
wane, and of such marvellous efficacy, that whoever drank of it acknow'ledged the 
sins that he had long since secretly committed and forgotten. " Her mortified 
vanity," says Mr. Hoskins, " at not having succeeded in her enterprise, the reflec- 
tions caused by the dangers and solitudes of the desert, or the influence of the 



92 ETHIOPIA. 

religion of Amoun, may have been the monitors that awakened the guilty 
conscience of the Assyrian queen." 

The next event recorded in the history of the Ethiopians, is the assistance 
which they rendered to Sheshonk, in his expedition against Judea, B.C. 957.* 
Sixteen years afterwards, in the days of Asa, King of Judah, Zerah, King of the 
Ethiopians, came out against him with a host of a thousand and three hundred 
chariots, and the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the 
Ethiopians fled. And Asa and the people that were with him, pursued them unto 
Gerar, and the Ethiopians were overthrown, that they could not recover them- 
selves.f The army of Zerah must have been transported by navigating the Red 
Sea, and marching through the Arabian Peninsula, part of which was probably 
subject to the kings of Ethiopia. Many have objected (o the number of Zerah's 
army, as improbable ; but this objection vanishes, when we read that Asa assembled 
580,000 warriors to oppose him. No better proof of the power of the kingdom 
of Meroe could be wanting, than the fact that her king could undertake such an 
expedition, at the head of so many of her sons, and that she was able not only to 
dispense with their labour, but also to support the expenses of such a distant 
journey. 

We now come to that epoch in the annals of Ethiopia, when her kings 
reigned not only over their native country, but over the whole of Egypt. Shabak 
(Sabaco), was the first who enjoyed that honour, having, as we have seen, taken 
the wise but unfortunate Bocchoris prisoner, B. C. 794. After him came Sha- 
batok (Sevechus), who was succeeded by the conqueror Tahraka (Tirhakah). In 
the third year of Hoshea, King of Israel, Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, began to reign, 
and was more celebrated than any other king of Judah, for his zeal in eradicating 
idolatry from among his people. Hezekiah rebelled against the Assyrians, and 
smote the Philistines ; and in the fourth year of his reign, Shalmaneser besieged 
and took Samaria. Ten years afterwards, Sennacherib, who had succeeded to the 
Assyrian throne, went up against all the fenced cities of Judah and took them. 
Hezekiah purchased a peace from him, by stripping the temples and palaces of 
their treasures ; but the Assyrian broke his agreement, and sent up a great host 
against Jerusalem. The three chiefs of the Assyrian army held a conference with 
three of Hezekiah's officers, and after having taunted them with trusting in Egypt, 
advised them to give pledges to their king, and not to look to Egypt for chariots 
and for horsemen. Hezekiah, however, was comforted by Isaiah; and Rabshakeh 
returned and told his master, Sennacherib, that Tahraka was coming up to fight 
against him. 

Herodotus mentions a King Sethos, a priest of Vulcan, who despised the 
soldiers of Egypt, and deprived them of their lands. But afterwards, Sennacherib, 
King of the Arabs and Assyrians, invaded Egypt with a great host, and none of 
the warriors were willing to assist him ; when Sethos, bewaihng in the temple 

* See Chnp. I. See. III. f 2 Chron. chap. xiv. 



TAHRAKA. 93 

liis extremity, was encouraged to go against the invaders, the divinity himself 
promising to assist him. Accordingly, he pitched his camp in Pelusium, followed 
only by merchants, artificers, and labourers. When there, a multitude of field 
mice were scattered among their adversaries, and ate the bands of their armour, 
of their bows, and their shields; so that, next day, naked and disarmed, they fled, 
and multitudes of them perished. This Sethos is evidently Tahraka (the Tirhakah 
of the Scriptures). He is represented to have been the successor of an Ethiopian; 
Tahraka succeeded Shabatok (Sevechus). He despised Egyptian soldiers ; Tahraka 
would naturally despise the descendants of those whom his ancestors had con- 
quered. He deprived the Egyptian soldiers of their lands ; Tahraka ruled by 
light of conquest, and it would have been good policy for him to have done so. 
Sethos w^as a priest; Tahraka, as an Ethiopian or Egyptian king, was necessarily 
chosen from the priesthood, and the kings were so much under the influence of the 
priests, as to submit to death itself at their command.* Tahraka was otherwise 
«« kind and beneficent king, as is shown from the fact, that the merchants, arti- 
ficers, and labourers, were so attached to his person as to hasten to his support. 
The time of the reign of Sethos and that of Tahraka is the same, and both 
marched against the same Sennacherib, King of Assyria. Herodotus states 
Pelusium, not Jerusalem, to have been the place of Sennacherib's defeat ; " and 
this circumstance," says Hoskins, " led me at first to imagine that he might have 
been defeated at both those places, but I conceived it more reasonable to attribute 
these differences of name, place, and the nature of the miracle, to the usual con- 
fusion of Herodotus, who did not complete his work, like Manetho, from the 
sacred registers preserved in the temples, but from verbal communications with the 
priests; perhaps the story of the mice was invented by Herodotus, or his informers, 
or, at all events, arose in the lapse of time to explain the manner in which the 
deity interfered in behalf of his chosen people."! Taracus, Tahraka, Tirhakah, 
and Sethos, may, therefore, be regarded as different names of the same king, the 
last of the twenty-fifth dynasty of Egyptian sovereigns. So, King of Egypt, to 
whom, twelve years previous to the defeat of Sennacherib, Hoshea, King of 
Israel, applied for aid, is considered by Mr. Gliddon and others, to have been the 
predecessor of Tahraka, viz. Sevechus, son of Sabaco. 

During the reign of Psammetichus, 240,000 of the Egyptian troops aban- 
doned his service, for reasons before stated, and retired into Ethiopia. J They 
engaged themselves to a King of Ethiopia, who employed them in subduing some 
of his discontented subjects, M'hose land he gave them as a reward. The colony 
thus introduced, were instrumental in making the people acquainted with the 
Egyptian arts and civilization. The great power of the kingdom of Ethiopia can 
only be assigned as a reason why so large a body of armed men w^ere satisfied with 
having assigned to them a distant and uncivilized province, instead of taking 

* Diodorus. + Iloskins's Travels in Ethiopia, &c. &c. 

I See Chap. I. Sec. HI. 



94 ETHIOPIA. 

possession of the whole country. The next important event in the history of 
Ethiopia, is the expedition of Cambyses, aheady fully noticed.* 

The Ethiopians, says Diodorus, have many laws differing from those of other 
nations, particularly as regards the choice of their kings. The priests choose the 
most respectable of their order, and form them into a circle ; and he who by chance 
is taken hold of by the priest, who enters into the circle, walking and leaping like 
a satyr, is declared king upon the spot ; and all the people worship him as a man 
charged with the government by divine Providence. The king Hves after the 
manner prescribed to him by the law, and punishes and rewards his subjects only 
in obedience to its mandates. He cannot cause any one judged worthy of death 
to be executed ; but he sends an officer, with the signal of death, to the person, 
who immediately shuts himself up in his house, and executes justice upon himself. 
[t is not permitted to him to fly from his own country, or change the punishment 
of death into banishment. They relate that a certain person, having received 
an order of death, sent by the king, thought of flying out of Ethiopia. His mother, 
suspecting his design, passed her girdle around his neck, without his attempting to 
defend himself, and strangled him ; lest, she said, her son should bring increased 
disgrace upon his ftimily by his flight. The death of the king is still more extra- 
ordinary. When the priests have come to the conclusion that the king has lived 
long enough, they send a courier to him, with an order for him to die. They tell 
him that the gods have thus decreed, and that he would be guilty of a crime if he 
should violate an order from them, and add many other reasons calculated to 
influence a simple man, aware of the ancient custom, and destitute of sufficient 
strength of mind to resist their power. The first kings submitted to this cruel 
sentence. Ergamenes, who was skilled in Grecian lore, and who reigned at the time 
of the second Ptolemy, was the first that dared to throw off" this iniquitous yoke. 
He went with his army to the fortress, where was formerly the temple of gold of 
the Ethiopians, and having caused all the priests to be massacred, instituted a new 
relio-ion. Rosellini found the name of Ergamenes or Erkamenes, on the door of 
the sanctuary of Backer, a small village and temple on the banks of the Nile. 
And from the discovery of the name, between the first and second cataract, we 
may presume that, unlike most of his predecessors, he reigned over part of the 
country. Besides that of Ergamenes, Rosellini found the name of an Ethiopian 
king, " Son of the sim," on the temple of Deboud, in Lower Nubia. This 
monarch he conceives to have reigned at nearly the same period with Ergamenes, 
and to have extended his conquests to within a few miles of Philse. A Greek 
inscription, at Kalafshy, mentions the victories of Silco, King of the Ethiopians, 
over the Blemmyes. Strabo gives us a narrative of an important event which 
occurred about the time of the Christian era, and which accounts for the ruin of 
the towns and temples which once adorned that part of the Nile. 

The event referred to, occurred in the reign of a certain Queen Candace. 

* See Cliap. II. Sec. I. 



CAN DACE. ^'3 

The Roman governor, iElius Gallus, having taken away the garrison of Syene, to 
prosecute his expedition into Arabia, the Ethiopians took advantage of this circum- 
stance ; and, by a sudden attack, captured Syene, Elephanta, and Philae, made the 
inhabitants prisoners, and overthrew the statues of Csesar Augustus. Petronius, 
the Roman officer left in command, attacked them, and forced them to fly to 
Pselchis, an Ethiopian city; and shortly afterwards, in a pitched battle, completely 
routed them. Some escaped to the town; but others, among whom were the 
generals of Candace, were compelled to seek refuge in a neighbouring town, by 
swimming across the river. Petronius crossed the river on rafts and boats, made 
the fugitives prisoners, and sent them to Alexandria; afterwards he attacked 
Pselchis, and took it by assault. He then advanced and gained Premnis. Fearing 
an attack on Napata, her capital, Candace sent messengers with proposals of 
peace. Petronius rejected them, and the queen, with her son, fled from the palace. 
Petronius attacked the capital, razed it to the ground, and led away the inhabitants 
captive. He then returned with his booty, leaving a garrison in Premnis. Can- 
dace advanced against that city, but Petronius came to its relief. Candace again 
sent ambassadors to the conqueror, who referred them to Caesar Augustus. They 
found the emperor at Samos, and obtained peace on their own terms ; a proof that 
even the well disciplined and victorious Romans respected their native bravery. 
Pliny notices this expedition, and mentions other cities taken by Petronius. He 
asserts, further, that it was not the Roman arms only, which made a wilderness of 
this part of Ethiopia, but the wars with Egypt, in which they were frequently 
made to submit to the fate of a conquered nation. 

Ergamenes has been mentioned as skilled in the learning of the Greeks; 
whence we may infer that a taste for Greek literature was spread in Ethiopia, 
and it is probable that the inhabitants were not destitute of Greek translations 
of the Sacred Scriptures. Many of the Jews visited that country, and probably 
converted the Eunuch* to the Jewish faith. We find him, at all events, as a 
believer in the Jewish religion, undertaking a journey of nearly two thousand 
miles, to worship in the temple at Jerusalem, and engaged, when the apostle 
Philip met him, in studying the promises held out to the chosen people. His 
conversion took place in the thirty-third year after the birth of Christ; and unless 
we assign a reign of more than fifty years to the Candace of the Gospel, she cannot 
be the sovereign who reigned at the time of the expedition of Petronius. Pliny, 
however, informs us, that several queens of Ethiopia assumed this appellation, and 
it was doubtless one of these, under whom the Eunuch was chief treasurer. 

In the year 330, Christianity was introduced into Abyssinia, by Frumentius 
and iEdisius, two youths who were shipwrecked on the coast of the Red Sea ; 
but it was not till the time of Theodosius that the Nubians were converted. 
According to the Arab writer, Shelef el Edrese, A. D. 1153, they remained 
Christians at that period. f 

* Acts, viii. 27. t Hoskins's Travels in Ethiopia, &c. 




■^ A/EWn"^' 



CHAPTER III. 

BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 




SECTION I. 

©CO gx a j3 5:) i c eil ©utliae — 3PiI!itiraII awji Social ®or;^iHon, 

ABYLONIA was strictly a large province of Upper Asia, bounded 
by Mesopotamia and Assyria on the north, by Arabia Deserta on 
. the west, on the east by the Tigris, and on the south by the Persian 
Gulf. In a more extended sense of the term, Babylonia was one of 
the most considerable satrapies of the Persian empire, comprising 
both Assyria and Mesopotamia ; and Ptolemy makes it to comprise, 
besides these two countries, Chaldea and Amordacia. It was, as it is at the 
present day, the rival of the valley of the Nile in fertility ; and the following 
description of its products, given by Herodotus, applies equally well to the present 
state of its agriculture. "The Babylonian district, like Egypt, is intersected by 
numerous canals ; the largest of which, having a south-easterly course, connecting 
the Euphrates with the Tigris near Nineveh, is capable of receiving vessels of 
burden. Of all the countries I am acquainted with. Babylonia is by far the most 
fruitful in corn. The soil is so particularly adapted for this product, that it never 
yields less than two hundred fold, and in the most favourable seasons, frequently 
the crop amounts to three hundred. The barley and wheat carry a blade full four 
digits in breadth. But, though I have witnessed it myself, I dare not mention the 
immense height to which millet and sesame stalks grow, lest my report should 
appear incredible to those who have not visited this country. This fertility with 
regard to cereal productions is, however, counterbalanced by a dearth of wood. 
The fig tree, the olive, and the vine, the inhabitants did not attempt to cultivate ; 
and this deficiency was but poorly supplied by date or palm trees, with which the 

(96) 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 97 

land was completely covered. Of the fruit of these, however, the inhabitants 
made bread, wine, and honey."* 

In this account of the Father of History, are mentioned the rivers Euphrates 
and Tigris. The first of these rises near Arze, in a part of the most northern 
branch of Taurus, and flows to the west as a very inconsiderable stream, until it 
reaches the Cappadocian mountains, where it turns to the south. At a short 
distance from this bend it receives its southern arm, the Arsanias, a river coming 
from the range of Mount Ararat, in the east. The Euphrates, now become a 
considerable stream, flows towards Samosata, when it turns, and flows south-east 
to Circesium. Entering the plains of Sennaar, it meets with the sandy heights on 
the Arabian side, and is forced towards the Tigris, with which it forms a junction 
near Coma. It now takes the name of the River of Arabia, and empties into the 
Persian Gulf by three principal mouths, one only of which is at all navigable, the 
quicksands and shoals formed by its other mouths rendering the approach of the 
mariner dangerous. It is described as "the fertile river," by Lucan, Cicero, 
Sallust, and others. 

The Tigris rises in the district of Sophene, in Armenia, and passes through a 
ravine in the mountains into a sloping country, where the current of the river 
becomes so rapid as to give it the various names by which diflferent nations 
designate it, all of which denote the flight of an arrow. After being joined by a 
branch, which in its course passes through several subterranean caverns, it falls 
into the Euphrates. The Tigris has always been a celebrated river, and its banks 
have been decorated in all ages by splendid cities. As the plain between the two 
rivers has a considerable fall towards the east, the western river, the Euphrates, 
has a much higher bed than the Tigris. Its level banks are generally filled to the 
brink, by the mighty -mass of waters that rolls between them, so that an overflow 
follows the least increase. The Tigris, on the contrary, has a much deeper 
channel, with bolder shores, over which it seldom or never passes, although its 
current is much more rapid than that of the Euphrates. But the latter river, by 
its inundations, compelled the Babylonians to undertake the stupendous task of 
endeavouring to confine it within fixed boundaries, while the proper irrigation of 
the soil could not be neglected. This operation, though somewhat lightened by 
the lakes, dikes, canals and marshes, formed by nature herself, required the most 
strenuous exertions ; exertions which seem, says Heeren, to have developed their 
genius, and to have given an impulse to the progress of civilization and the arts 
among them, for which they were scarcely less celebrated than the Egyptians. 

Beyond the Tigris was the region properly called Assyria, and which, accord- 
ing to Ptolemy, was bounded by part of Armenia on the north, the Tigris on the 
west, Susiana on the south, and on the east by Media, and the Choatra and Zagros 
mountains. The Sacred Scriptures give the honour of the origin of the Assyrian 
empire to Nimrod, who founded Nineveh when expelled from Babel. Rabshakeh, 

* Ilorolotus, i. 193. 

Vol. I. 1;; 



98 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

sent by Sennacherib against Hezekiah, describes Assyria as a land of corn and 
wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey ; but continual 
wars have reduced it to a wilderness, cultivated only in the neighbourhood of the 
few towns and villages which it possesses. 

While wood was rare in these countries, stone and marble were still more so. 
The vicinity of Babylon, however, furnished an inexhaustible supply of clay, 
which, dried in the sun or burned in kilns, became so hard and durable, that the 
remains of walls erected centuries ago, have withstood the force of the atmosphere, 
and still retain the inscriptions originally impressed upon them. A substitute for 
mortar was found in naphtha or bitumen, which was plentifully supplied near the 
small river Is, eight days journey above Babylon. The ancient walls preserve 
the bricks, and the layers of rushes and palm leaves laid between the bricks as a 
binding material, were found by Niebuhr as perfect as though but recently put 
together. 

Nineveh, or Ninus, the capital of the Assyrian empire, was situated on the 
river Tigris, nearly three hundred miles north of Babylon. Sacred and profane 
writers agree in calling it a great city. Jonah says, it was of three days' journey, 
and Diodorus fixes its circumference at four hundred and eighty stadia ; from 
which it would seem to have been about the size of Babylon, though Strabo says 
it was larger. From the expression of Jonah, that there were in the city one 
hundred and twenty thousand children, or persons who did not know their right 
hand from their left, commentators have supposed its population to have been 
nearly two millions. 

Its walls, according to Diodorus, were one hundred feet high, and of sufficient 
width to allow three chariots to be driven on them abreast. Upon the walls were 
built fifteen hundred towers, two hundred feet in height, find the fortifications 
throughout were so stupendous, as to be deemed impregnable. According to Greek 
writers, Ninus was the founder, but probably he was identical with the Nimrod 
of the Bible. As in other large cities, the greatest corruption and licentiousness 
prevailed, on account of which Nahum, the prophet, predicted its downfall by an 
equestrian nation. Zephaniah also prophesied its total destruction. The exact 
site of the city has never been ascertained, though several large piles of ruins 
are found on the Tigris, which are supposed to have been some of its temples 
and palaces. 

Babylon stood in a plain, and was perfectly square, traversed by twenty-five 
principal streets each way, and divided by them into six hundred and twenty-five 
squares. These streets were terminated by a hundred gates of brass, of prodigious 
size and strength. The walls, according to Herodotus, were about three hundred 
and thirty-seven feet high and eighty-four feet broad. Each side of the square 
has been computed to have been nearly eight and a half British miles in length, 
whence the area inclosed must have been over seventy-two miles.* It is not 

* Anllion. 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 99 

probable, however, that the whole of this vast space was built upon ; the immense 
vacant grounds of the palaces and public buildings, of the temple and tower of 
Belus, and of the hanging gardens, occupying many miles within the walls. The 
walls were made of brick, surrounded by a deep ditch, and defended by towers at 
the gates and corners. The ditch was filled with water from the Euphrates, 
which flowed through the middle of the city. A bridge passed over the river 
between the two palaces, and the opposite sides were farther connected by a tunnel. 

The temple of Belus, supposed to have been built upon the site of the tower 
of Babel, was the most remarkable structure in the city. Travellers believe that 
they have discovered the site of the temple of Belus in a mass of ruins usually 
called the tower of Nimrod (Birs Nemroud), about five miles west of the modern 
town of Hillah, on the west bank of the river. It was a furlong in length and the 
same in breadth, at its base, and its height exceeded six hundred feet, which is 
more than that of the Egyptian pyramids. It was built in eight stories, gradually 
diminishing as they ascended, only three of which can now be discovered. Instead 
of stairs, there was a sloping terrace on the outside, sufficiently wide for carriages 
and beasts of burden to ascend. Nebuchadnezzar made many additions to it, and 
surrounded the whole with a wall two miles in circumference. All the w^ealth 
that the Babylonians plundered from the east, was exhausted in adorning it with 
idols of gold and other ornaments, and the whole was sacred to Bel or Belus. On 
the summit stood an observatory, devoted to the purposes of astronomy and 
astrology, in which sciences the Babylonians seem to have made considerable 
progress. It has been conjectured fi om the vitrified appearance of some of the 
fragments, that the tower was rent by lightning from the top to the bottom. 

The appearance of the tower of Nimrod, says Heeren, is sublime, even in its 
ruins. Clouds play-around its summit ; its recesses are inhabited by lions. Three 
of those animals were quietly basking on its heights, when the celebrated English 
traveller Sir Robert Ker Porter appioached it, and, scarcely intimidated by tlie 
shouts of the Arabs, gradually and slowly descended into the plain.* At the 
eastern extremity of the bridge was the old palace, very strongly fortified, and 
covering a space three miles and three-quarters in circumference. At the other 
side stood the new palace, enclosed by three walls, one within another. The outer 
wall was seven miles and a half in circumference, and all three were covered with 
sculptures. Within the precincts of the new palace were the hanging gardens, so 
celebrated by Greek and Roman writers. They consisted of terraces, resting on 
arches, supported by other arches, and strengthened by a w'all twenty-two feet in 
thickness. The ascent to these terraces, which were higher than the walls of the 
city, was by stairs ten feet wide ; the moisture of the mould, of which the gardens 
were composed, being prevented from injuring the arches by a sheeting of lead and 
cement. The earth was of such a thickness that the largest and most beautiful 
trees and shrubs were able to take root in it. The gardens were irrigated by the 

* Ileeren's Nations of Antiquity. Porter's Travels, ii. p. 387. 



100 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

water of the Euphrates, which was raised from the river for that purpose by 
h}alraulic engines.* Amyrtis, the Median wife of Nebuchadnezzar, desired to 
have somethino; in imitation of her native hills and forests, and the monarch raised 
this enormous structure to gratify her.f 

Babylon was early celebrated for her manufactures of cotton and woollen 
stuffs and carpets; and the sindoues, or cotton robes, were so highly esteemed for 
their rich colouring and delicate textures, as to be appropriated to royal use. Her 
manufactures were known as early as the conquest of Canaan ; for in the account 
of the taking of Jericho, we read that a Babylonish garment formed part of the 
sacrilegious spoil which Achan hid in his tent. Besides these articles of manufac- 
ture, carved walking-canes, engraved signet-rings and stones, and perfumed waters, 
were made in the city; and the arts of the lapidary were well understood. The 
Babylonians had an extensive commerce with Persia, India, China, Western Asia, 
and Europe, and Babylon was always a mart for gold, precious stones, dye-stuffs, 
wool, cashmere shawls, cochineal, and indeed almost all the articles of ancient 
commerce. The Babylonians derived much of their commercial advantage from 
their alliance with the Phoenicians ; but they had a navy of their own, and 
continued a lucrative trade with India, until the Persians, fearing inroads and 
predatory incursions from the pirates who infested the eastern seas, blocked up the 
mouth of the Euphrates with immense dams, which destroyed the navigation of 
the river and the intercourse between Babylon and Southern India. Commercial 
establishments were early formed on the Bahrein Islands, in the Persian Gulf, 
whence the Babylonians obtained the hardest white and yellow pearls, much 
superior to those of Ceylon, which break in pieces under the blow of a hammer. 
From the same source they obtained much finer cotton than India produced, as 
well as timber for ship-building, and for walking-canes and inlaid works. 

In the Assyrian monarchy, and that which succeeded it, the government was 
the worst kind of Asiatic despotism. The king was the head of the church and 
state, claiming divine worship as the incarnation of the deity, and making his will 
the law of the land. His palace was crowded with as many wives as he could 
collect, who were placed under the guardianship of eunuchs, an unfortunate class 
of men first brought into use in Assyria. No code of laws restrained his judgments, 
and no ancient custom was permitted to interfere with his pleasure. His principal 
officers were four : the captain of the guards or chief executioner ; the chief of 
the eunuchs, who guarded the seraglio, and superintended the education of the 
young nobles ; the president or master of the college of priests, soothsayers, and 
astrologers ; and a prime minister, who sat in the gate of his palace to hear 
complaints and administer justice. The priesthood was hereditary, the religion, 
the Sabean idolatry. To the sun, moon and stars, they added deified mortals, to 
whom they ascribed an imaginary connexion with the celestial luminaries. Their 
supreme deity was Baal or Bel ; next to him was Mylitta or Astarte, a female 

* Anlhon. Taylor. f Joseplius, arcli. x. 349. 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 



101 



deity, corresponding to the Venus of the Romans, and worshipped with great 
licentiousness. They assigned to their deities both an astronomical and historical 
character; and, in consequence, neither their mythology nor their history can be 
well understood. Their idols were monsters of every variety, having many heads 
of different beasts and limbs of men and members of animals, promiscuously 
attached to unnatural bodies. The utmost cruelty and obscenity characterized 
their religion ; human victims being sacrificed, and prostitution enjoined as a 
religious duty. The women were sold in public to the highest bidder, and the 
money obtained for beauty was applied to portioning ugliness. The whole popu- 
lation were the tools and slaves of the Chaldean priests and jugglers, and all 
classes were as superstitious as they were depraved. Their language, the Chaldaic, 
bore a close affinity to the Hebrew, and the other languages of the Semitic race. 
A few chapters of the book of Daniel are written in this dialect. They wrote on 
bricks and earthen cylinders; but whether they were possessed of books is a matter 
of doubt. Their knowledge of the mechanical arts and mathematical science 
was extensive, but their attainments in astronomy were rendered useless by the 
astrological absurdities which disfigured it.* 

* Taylor. Anthon. Heeren. Herodotus. 






SECTION II. 

HE Assyrians were not destitute of traditions res})L'cting the 
foundation and early history of their monarchy ; but they were 
all expressed in the exaggerated style of the Orientals: a few 
historical facts being obscured under a cloud of fables and alle- 
gories ; their bands of some scores of men being transformed into 
armies of myriads; their insignificant skirmishes described as 
battles which decided the fate of empires ; and the commanding chief represented 
as lord of the world, and gratuitously furnished with a long and noble genealogy 
of heroes and demigods. Under such circumstances, the only historical authori- 
ties upon which any reliance can be placed in compiling a sketch of Assyrian 
history, are the notices of it which are to be found in the writings of other nations, 
and particularly in the Sacred Scriptures, and the works of Herodotus and Diodorus 
Siculus. From them we learn that Nimrod or Ninus was the founder of the 
empire, and probably the first nomad chief that established a permanent monarchy. 
The Bible tells us that "he began to be a mighty one in the earth." " He was a 
mighty hunter before the Lord." " And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel 
and Erech, and Accad and Calneh in the land of Shinar." Following the marginal 
translation, we find that after the miraculous interruption of the building of Babel, 
he went out of that land into Assyria, and built Nineveh and several other cities. 
Nineveh was the metropolis of the new empire, which appears to have 
been founded B. C. 1327. Ninus chose for his principal queen Semiramis, the wife 
of one of his officers. This celebrated personage was exposed during her infancy, 
according to the ancient legends, in a desert, where she was nourished for a whole 
year by doves, till Simmas, one of the shepherds of Ninus, found her, and adopted 
her as his own daughter. She first married Menones, governor of Nineveh, and 
by her advice and directions hastened the operations of the king, and happily 
ternunated the siege of Bactra, Ninus became enamoured of hei', and offered her 

(102) 



SEMIRAMIS. 103 

husband his daughter, Sosanna, to wife in place of her ; but Mcnoncs refused, and 
finally hung himself. Semiramis then became the wife of Ninus, by whom she 
had a son named Ninyas. 

Not long after this event, the queen, having previously secured the co-opera- 
tion of many of the nobles, obtained of Ninus the right to exercise the sovereign 
power for five days. The provinces were ordered to obey her commands, and the 
unfortunate king was seized and put to death, either immediately or after an imj)ri- 
sonment. To immortalize herself, Semiramis then employed two millions of men in 
the construction, or rather the improvement of Babylon, and in raising monuments 
in different parts of her kingdom. She paid great attention to internal improve- 
ments, whilst her arms were everywhere engaged in a brilliant career of foreign 
conquest. India suffered much from her ambition, and she even invaded Ethiopia 
and Egypt. At length her son Ninyas was detected in a plot against her, when, 
in compliance with an old prediction of an oracle, she abdicated the sovereignty in 
his fiivour. She had occupied the throne forty-two years, and was sixty-two 
years of age at the time when she ceased to reign; and she is said to have instantly 
vanished. Others say that she was changed to a dove, and flew away with a 
flock which had alighted on her palace, whence the dove was held to be a sacred 
bird by the Assyrians. According to Herodotus,* who calls her husband Ninus, and 
assigns to the Assyrian empire a duration of 520 years, the reign of Semiramis 
must be placed about 1200 years B. C. 

Ninyas, the successor of Semiramis, gave himself up to indolence and de- 
bauchery, in the seclusion of his palace. The whole task of administering the 
government was reposed in the hands of ministers. His ignoble example was 
followed by several generations of his successors, and the empire of Assyria 
gradually decayed. 

About the year 771 B.C., under Pul, the Assyrians began to extend their 
empire westward beyond the Euphrates. Menahem, who had then usurped the 
kingdom of Israel, was so terrified by their approach to his borders, that he 
purchased their forbearance by the payment of a thousand talents of silver.f 
Twenty-four years afterwards, B. C. 747, Tiglath-pul-assur ascended the throne, 
and pursued the scheme of conquest which Pul had commenced. Invited by Ahaz, 
King of Judah, he conquered Israel, stormed Damascus, and subdued Syria ; 
removing the vanquished Israelites and Syrians beyond the Euphrates, into the 
most remote provinces of his kingdom. | 

In 728 B. C, Shalman-assur, or Salmaneser, occupied the Assyrian throne. 
During three years he was occupied in the siege of Samaria, which finally fell 
before his arms, and the greater part of the ten tribes were led into captivity. In 
accordance with a system universally pursued by the Assyrian conquerors, he 
placed in the conquered country a colony from other states. He next invaded 
Pha-nicia, and subdued all the principal cities except Tyre, which, by the superiority 
of her naval force, bafiled all his endeavours. 

* Ilorocloturi, i. 95. \ 2 Kinos, xv. 19. | 2 Kings, xv. 29. 



104 BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA. 

Sennacherib, or Sanherib, was the next monarch ; whoso miraculous defeat 
in an expedition against Hezekiah and the King of Egypt, has been ah'eady noticed. 
On his return, a conspiracy was formed against him, and he was slain by his own 
sons. The parricides were set aside from the succession, and the third son of 
Sennacherib ascended the throne. The Scriptures speak of him as Esar-haddon, 
and he is elsewhere called Assur-haddon-pul, and also Sardanapulus. In the first 
year of his reign he was a conqueror, but subsequently sunk into inactivity and 
mtemperance. Though he had conquered the kingdom of Judah and made war 
against Egypt, his subsequent conduct disgusted his soldiers, and the satraps of 
Media and Babylon revolted. They besieged him in his own capital, the 
inhabitants of which refused to defend it. In his extremity, the king made a great 
pile, on which he placed his wives and his treasures, and applied the torch. He 
then threw himself into the flames, and ended the Assyrian monarchy with his life, 
B.C. 717. 

The control of Western and Central Asia was now transferred to Babylon. 
That city, thirty years previously, had been seized upon by an army of mercenary 
Chaldeans, who had been sent thither by the Ninevite monarch to keep the 
Babylonians in subjection to their yoke. As was frequently the case under similar 
circumstances, the Chaldeans revolted from their masters, and made one of their 
leaders, Nabonassar, an independent king over Babylon, B. C. 747. After him 
came twelve successors, during whose dynasty Nineveh again acquired dominion 
over Babylon. Soon after the death of Sardanapulus, Nabopolassar, or Nebo-pul- 
assar, became king of Babylon. During his reign, the Pharaoh of Egypt took 
advantage of internal dissensions to invade the Babylonian empire ; and extended 
his conquests to the Euphrates. He gamed possession of Carchemish, and induced 
the governor of Ccele-Syria and Phoenicia to revolt against Nabopolassar. Nebu- 
chadnezzar, the son of that monarch, quickly reduced these provinces, and advanced 
against the Egyptians. He gained a great victory over them at Carchemish, 
B. C. 604, and was about to follow up his success by an invasion of Egypt. The 
news of his accession to the throne, in consequence of his father's death, recalled 
him to Babylon. The queen of Nebuchadnezzar appears to have been the Nitocris 
of Herodotus, who built the bridge over the Euphrates, and many other edifices 
known to have been erected during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar: The queen seems 
to have acted as regent in the absence of her husband on his w^arlike expeditions. 
Having conquered the kingdom of Judah, he brought several of its princes to 
Babylon as hostages. Among these was Daniel, w^ho was rewarded with the 
government of Babylon, for having recalled and interpreted by divine inspiration 
a dream of the king, which baflSed the wisdom and cunning of the Chaldean 
soothsayers. 

The Jews not long after took advantage of the invasion of Assyria by the 
Scythians, to rebel. They enjoyed immunity for a time, Nebuchadnezzar being 
employed in the siege of Nineveh. Having succeeded by the aid of Cyaxares, the 
Mede, in taking and destroying that city, he marched against Jerusalem. The 



BELSIIAZZAR. 105 

holy city fell, her monarch was slain, his son was sent a prisoner to Babylon, a 
new king was appointed, and the conqueror marched back to his capital with the 
plunder of the temple, and so great a number of captives, that there were scarce 
enough of the inhabitants left to till her lands. The obstinate IsraeHtes, notwith- 
standing the hopelessness of the undertaking, soon after again revolted, under 
promise of aid from the Egyptians. The ire of the Babylonian king was now 
fully roused. He laid Jerusalem desolate, wasted the lands, and carried the bulk 
of the nation into captivity. Phoenicia next felt the sad effects of his anger, and 
when he again turned his course to Babylon, he carried with him the plunder of 
the whole of the lower valley of the Nile. In the plains of Dura, he witnessed 
the miraculous preservation of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Notwith- 
standing this second instance of the Almighty power of the God of the Hebrews, 
Nebuchadnezzar became so elated with his success, that he believed himself not 
subject to the common lot of mortals ; and as a penalty for his impiety, he was 
afflicted in some mysterious manner with lunacy. " He was driven from men, and 
did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs 
were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws." 

Nebuchadnezzar, says Josephus, built a three-fold wall or entrenchment 
round about the inner city, and another, in like manner, around that which was 
the outer wall, all of burnt brick. And when he had walled the city about, and 
adorned its gates gloriously, he built another palace by the side of his father's, 
but so that they joined. To describe their vast height and great splendour, would 
be superfluous. This new palace would appear, according to Heeren, to be the 
vast structure called the hanging gardens by the Greeks, and paradise by the 
Persians, and containing royal habitations, as well as gardens. 

Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by Evil-Merodach, who was soon after mur- 
dered by his brother-in-law, Neriglissar. Nitocris, however, saved Belshazzar, the 
young prince, from the conspirators, and conveyed him to a place of safety. The 
kings of Western Asia joined with the Babylonians to prevent the further ex- 
tension of the Median power. They were, however, totally defeated by Cyaxares 
and his nephew Cyrus, and Neriglissar himself was slain in the battle. Labosoar- 
chad succeeded him, B. C. 555, but his tyranny led to his speedy dethronement, 
and the son of Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonadius, Neboandal or Labynelus, was 
restored to the throne, and took the surname of Belshazzar. As he was 
still in his minority, Nitocris exercised the office of regent, and while in that 
capacity, completed the great works commenced in the reign of her husband 
Nebuchadnezzar. 

Hitherto the career of Babylon had been one of continual aggrandizement 
in wealth and power ; but when Belshazzar assumed the reins of government, he 
departed from the prudent policy of Nitocris, and not only provoked the hostility 
of the Medes, but neglected to provide for the war which was certain to ensue. 
Cyaxares and Cyrus invaded Babylonia, and soon laid siege to the capital. 
Belshazzar confided in the strength of the walls, and while he laughed his enemies 
Vol. I. 14 



106 



BABYLONIA AND ASSYRIA 



to scorn, abandoned himself to the utmost licentiousness. While the enemy were 
before his walls, he gave an entertainment in honour of his expected success. " He 
made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand." 
The servants were ordered to bring to the banquet the vessels of silver and gold 
which his father had taken from the temple of Jerusalem, and these were put in 
the hands of the guests, and profaned by their debauchery. But in the midst of 
all the feasting, revelry, and joy, " came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote 
over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace ; 
and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote." The unearthly hand had 
written the doom of Belshazzar and of Babylon. What the astrologers, Chaldeans, 
and soothsayers, declared their inabiUty to understand, was promptly read and 
interpreted by Daniel, the prophet of God, and fulfilled by " Cyrus, his servant." 
While the king and his company were drinking wine and praising their false gods, 
the Persians had entered the city by diverting the river from its course and 
marching through its bed. The distant points of the vast space within the walls, 
were already in the enemy's hands ; and while Daniel was uttering the awful 
denunciations of prophecy, the guards at the palace were attacked by the enemy, 
who had been guided thither by the lights gleaming from the palace windows. 
Awe-stricken by the words of the holy seer, the guests were startled by the 
sudden clashing of arms without. They rashly threw open the gates to ascertain 
the cause of the tumult, and thus admitted the enemy. Belshazzar, now when all 
was lost, behaved with a courage worthy of his ancestors. He drew his sword 
and attempted to drive back the enemy, but he was overpowered by numbers. 
He fell in his own hall, and with him fell the empire of Babylon.* 

* Herodotus. Taylor. 




"""^^^^^^^^SS 



^^^^^^3^=~ 




PLAINS OF TROY. 

CHAPTER IV. 

ASIA MINOH. 




SECTION I. 

® f I ic a p |) i c a I # u it I i n ? . 

HE term Asia Minor was first used in the middle ages to describe 
the peninsula between the ^Egean, the Black Sea, the Caspian, and 
the Levant. It included a number of petty states, whose bounda- 
■Aitfi '"'^^ varied at different periods. Beginning at the western side of 
the northern part of the peninsula, we find it to have contained 
Mysia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, and Pontus. In the south were Caria, Lycia, Pam- 
])hylia, Pisidia, and Cilicia ; in the centre Lydia, Phrygia, Galatia, Lycaonia, Cappa- 
docia, and Armenia. No country presents a greater variety of soil and climate than 
Asia Minor. Lydia, Caria, and the islands on the coast, have ever been remarkable 
for fertility and genial temperature, whilst the soil of the mountainous districts of 
Lycia, Pisidia, Cilicia, and Cappadocia, was so unproductive, and the coldness of 
the climate so great, that they were almost unudjabited. The barrenness of the 
ground in Phrygia and Galatia, caused many parts of them to be deserted ; and 

(107) 



108 ASIA MINOR. 

the whole country appears to have been subject at an early period to violent 
earthquakes. According to Cicero, the Roman treasury derived its surest and 
largest revenues from this quarter ; and had the moral character of the people kept 
pace with the resources of the country, it might have become the centre of a great 
and mighty empire.* 

The western part of Mysia, on the sea-coast, was called Troas or Lesser 
Phrygia, and was celebrated for the city and plains of Troy, immortalized by 
the first and greatest of poets. Between the promontories of Rhceteum and 
Sigeium, and protected by the island of Tenedos, lay a large roadstead, from 
which a level plain extended to the hills that skirt Mount Ida. On these hills 
stood Troy, and on the loftiest within its walls, the citadel of Pergamus was 
erected. The coasts of the Black Sea were studded with Grecian settlements, 
and into it the two principal rivers of Asia Minor, the Halys and Sangaris, 
poured their waters. 

The entire west coast was peopled by emigrations from Greece; and the 
Grecian states of Ionia, TEolia, and Caria, before the Persian conquest, were the 
most flourishing free states of antiquity. Caria contained the celebrated city of 
Miletus, second only to Tyre in commercial opulence, and the mother of a hundred 
colonies, many of which rivalled and finally surpassed the parent city in riches and 
greatness. One of the most famous of these colonies was Cyzicus, founded on a 
small island in the Propontis. 

Besides the Grecian cities on its coast, Lydia or Mwonia contained, at the 
foot of Mount Tmolus, on the banks of Pactolus, the celebrated metropolis Sardis. 
The territory in which it was situated, abounded in all the sources of wealth, 
possessing uncommon fertility, an extensive commerce, and the mountains of 
Tmolus, from whose lofty sides the streams of the Pactolus and Meander washed 
heaps of gold dust, destined to enrich the treasury of the Lydian kings. Sardis 
itself was not distinguished for its magnificence; but it was nevertheless the 
capital of the Lydian kingdom, and one of the principal cities of the Persians, 
who conquered it. 

In ancient times, Phrygia contained the cities of Gordium and Celaene ; to 
these the Macedonians added Apamea, Laodicea, Colosse, and others. Ephesus, 
the capital of Ionia, was the great emporium of Western Asia, having a spacious 
and convenient harbour. Though several times destroyed by an earthquake, it 
rose from its ruins with increased splendour. Its temple of Diana, called Arte- 
mision, was famous throughout Greece. It was four hundred and twenty-five 
feet long and two hundred broad, and was adorned with one hundred and twenty- 
seven pillars, each sixty feet high. It was destroyed by Erostratus, B. C. 356 ; 
but subsequently rebuilt with great splendour. 

* Aiitlion. 




SOLON BEFORE CRCESUS. 




SECTION II. 

HE kingdoms of Troy, of Phrygia, and of Lydia, are the 
only sovereignties of Asia Minor which deserve notice. 
Of these, the history of Troy consists merely of tradi- 
tions preserved by the Greek dramatic and epic poets ; 
its whole chronology is uncertain, and many even doubt 
the entire story of its siege and fall. It is said to have 
been originally founded by Dardanus, a Pelasgic chief, 
who, when exiled from his native country of Samothrace, 
came to Teucer, King of Mysia. The daughter of that 
king was given to him in marriage, with a part of the 
kingdom, which he called Dardania, B. C. 1400. He left two sons, Ilus and 
Erichthonius, the first of whom died without issue, and was succeeded by his 
brother, who was celebrated for his beautiful herds of horses. Erichthonius 
married Asyoche, and became by her the father of Tros, who succeeded to the 
throne, and from whom the metropolis of Priam was afterwards called Troy. 
Tros had three sons, Ilus, Assaracus, and Ganyraedes. The first of these succeeded 
his father, and founded the city of Troy, which he called Ilium. It soon after 
became the capital of all Troas. Ilus was succeeded by Laomedon, during whose 
reign the city w^as sacked by Hercules. Podarkes, or Priam, was the last king of 
Troy. His son, Alexander or Paris, being sent on an embassy to Southern 
Greece, abused the hospitality of Menelaus, King of Sparta, by carrying off his 
wife Helen in his absence. All the chiefs of Greece combined their forces, under 
the command of Agamemnon, to avenge this outrage, and with a great armada 
sailed to the siege of Troy. It was defended with the greatest bravery for ten 
years, when it was taken, according to Homer, by the famous stratagem of the 

(111) 



112 



ASIA MINOR. 



wooden horse filled with armed Greeks, and received into the city by the Trojans, 
under the impression that it was dedicated to the gods by the enemy, who had 
sailed away to Tenedos. The succeeding night, however, brought back the 
invaders, who were admitted into the city, by those who had been concealed in the 
horse. The city was set on fire, and sacked ; and when the Greeks sailed for 
their homes, Troy was a pile of ruins, and the headless trunk of her aged monarch 
lay unburied on the shore, where his gallant son, Hector, had already fallen 
beneath the sword of Achilles. 




DSATn OF nECTOK. 



Nothing authentic can be learned from the obscure traditions of the Phrygians 
respecting their history. Their kings were all named either Gordius or Midas ; but 
their deeds and order of succession are unknown. 

Of three dynasties which occupied the throne of Lydia, the Atyadae were 
the first. Omphale, fabled to have been the wife of Hercules, was the last 
queen of that race. The Heraclidse succeeded (B. C. 1232), and occupied the 
throne about five hundred years. Candaules was the last king of the second 
dynasty, and the first sovereign of Lydia whose existence can be relied on 
as a matter of history. By imprudent conduct he exasperated his queen, who 
instigated Gyges, a Lydian nobleman, to murder him> and take possession of 
the kingdom. Being confirmed in the sovereignty by the oracle (B. C. 727), 



CRCESUS. 113 

Gyges founded the dynasty of the Mermnadse, under whose sway the kingdom 
of Lydia rose to great power. It is supposed that he was the first to turn to 
advantage the auriferous mountain of Tmolus, whence the many fabulous tales 
respecting his great wealth may have arisen.* Gyges made war upon the Greek 
colonies, and succeeded in overthrowing several cities.f He made himself master 
of the whole of Troas, and the Milesians were obliged to ask his permission before 
they founded Abydos on the northern extremity of that region. | Ardys was the 
second of the dynasty. His reign was celebrated for the commencement of the 
ravages of the Cimmerians, or northern barbarians, who had been expelled from 
their original homes by a Scythian invasion. For half a century they held 
possession of the land, but Alyattes, the grandson of Ardys, succeeded in ex- 
pelling them. 

After the successful termination of the war with the Cimmerians, Alyattes 
made war upon Cyaxares, King of the Medes, whose increasing power rendered 
him an object of jealousy to the neighbouring nations. This war continued for 
six years, and was about to be decided by a great battle (B. C. 601), when a total 
eclipse of the sun, which had been predicted by Thales of Miletus, so terrified 
both armies in the midst of the fight, that they separated in consternation. This 
eclipse is said to have been the first one calculated by astronomers. The occur- 
rence of this eclipse is mentioned in the Persian poem, Schah-Nameh, as one of 
the remarkable occurrences of the reign of the king, Kai Kaoos, who seems 
thus identified with the Cyaxares of the Greeks.^ Alyattes afterwards made 
war upon the Milesians, and annually ravaged their territory. The Lydians in 
one of these excursions happened to burn a ttmple of Athene. Towards the close 
of the campaign the king fell sick, and ascribing his illness to the sacrilege of his 
troops, listened to the command of the Delphic oracle, to rebuild the temple. An 
ambassador was sent to Miletus to make arrangements for a truce while the temple 
was rebuilt. Hearing of the intended visit, Thrasybulus, King of Miletus, ordered 
all the corn possessed by the inhabitants to be displayed in the market-place. 
When the Lydian looked for signs of famine and distress, plenty and rejoicing 
everywhere met his eye. On his return he reported to Alyattes, that the Milesians 
had not suffered in the w^ar. The king was so astonished at the intelligence, that 
he not only built two new temples in the place of the old one, but concluded a 
treaty of peace and alhance with Thrasybulus. 

Croesus was the son and successor of Alyattes, the fifth king of the dynasty 
of the Mermnadae, and the last sovereign of the kingdom of Lydia. He ascended 
the throne about B. C. 560, at the age of thirty-five, and immediately resolved to 
carry into execution his father's design of reducing to subjection the Grecian 
colonies of Asia Minor. This he accomplished chiefly by taking advantage of 
their dissensions. He was mild in his treatment of the conquered people, allowing 

* Cicero. Off. iii. 9. t Ilcrod. i. 14. J Strabo, xiii. p. 590. 

5 Von Haninier, Wiener Jahrbi'icli. 
Vol. I. 15 



114 ASIA MINOR. 

them to retain their own laws, upon condition of paying him an annual tribute. 
He next determined to build a fleet, with which to attack the islands ; but he was 
diverted from his purpose by the arguments of Bias of Priene, who represented the 
impolicy of exposing his subjects to the doubtful result of an unequal conflict, on 
an element to which they were unaccustomed. Other authorities, however, assign 
the merit of this advice to Pittacus. He then made war upon all the other states 
of Asia Minor except Cilicia and Lycia, and extended his conquests to the eastern 
side of the river Halys. 

After his campaigns had been completed, Croesus applied himself to the 
cultivation of the arts of peace and the encouragement of literature. His riches 
and munificence were everywhere celebrated, and the splendour of his court 
attracted visiters from almost every nation of antiquity. The king, however, 
took especial delight in hearing and conversing with philosophers and sages from 
Greece, and the illustrious Solon is said by Herodotus to have visited his capital, 
Sardis. Expecting to be himself esteemed the happiest of mankind, Croesus was 
prompted to inquire of the Grecian sage, what man of all he had beheld appeared 
to him to be most truly happy. The philosopher answered, " Tellus, the 
Athenian," and gave the reasons for his opinion. Next to Tellus he ranked the 
Argives, Cleobis and Bito. Perceiving Croesus to be displeased, he said, " No 
man can decide concerning the happiness of another untii he sees the termination 
of his career." The celebrated JEsop was at the court of Croesus at this time, 
and ranked high in the esteem of the king. Afflicted at the disgrace of Solon, 
who was dismissed by Crcesus with indifference, he said to him, " You see, Solon, 
that we must either not come nigh kings, or we must entertain them with things 
agreeable to them." The Athenian, however, replied, " Not so. You should 
either say nothing to them, or tell them something useful."* 

Soon after this, Croesus had the misfortune to lose his son Atys, who was 
highly distinguished by his personal accomplishments. The circumstances attending 
his death, according to Herodotus, are as follows : Being warned in a vision that 
Atys should be killed with a spear, the king recalled him from the command of 
his army, and carefully guarded against the threatened danger. Meanwhile, the 
court was visited by the Phrygian prince Adrastus, who had been banished by 
his father for having killed his brother. Croesus entertained him hospitably, and 
received him into his family. Soon after his arrival, a wild boar ravaging the 
country in the province of Mysia, the people requested Croesus to send his son, 
with a chosen band, to kill the animal. Croesus granted the soldiers ; but refused 
to send his son, who began to suspect that his father deemed him a coward, and 
expressed great dissatisfaction at his caution. When the king related his vision, 
he was reminded that a boar could not use a spear in his own defence ; and, 

* Commenting upon the above anecdote, Bayle says, "I must confess that this caution of 
^-Esop argues a man well acquainted with the court and great men ; but Solon's answer is the 
true Icason of divines, who direct tlic contcicnccs of princes." 



CRCESUS. 



11;') 



wearied with his son's opposition, he at last permitted him to lead the hunt ; 
but sent Adrastus also, to shield him from harm. When attacking the boar, the 
stranger, aiming a blow with his spear at the animal, accidentally killed the Prince 
Atys. Adrastus, in despair at his double niisfoi'tune, besought the king to put him 
to death ; and afterwards, when acquitted of all blame by Croesus, who accused 
Jupiter of injustice, he retired at night to the burial-place, and slew himself upon 
the tomb of his friend.* 

Croesus, being soon after threatened with an invasion by Cyrus, King of 
Persia, assembled a numerous army of mercenaries, and invaded the territory 
guarded by Cyrus. A fiercely-contested and sanguinary battle took place in the 
district of Pteria, which was not decisive, and Croesus marched back to Sardis, 
where he dismissed all his mercenary force, and established himself in winter 
quarters. He sent for aid to Amasis, King of Egypt, and determined, when 
succours should arrive from that prince, as well as from the King of Babylon, 

* Herodotus, i. 34—45. 




rt^^--w<^- 






DEA.TH OF A.TT3. 



116 ASIA MINOR. 

and the Macedonians, to recommence offensive operations. But the enterprise 
and vigilance of Cyrus defeated his schemes. That prince, learning that Croesus 
considered his present mercenary army insufficient, and had resolved to dismiss 
it for the winter, determined to make a sudden and forced march into Lycha. 
Croesus met him with his cavalry only, and Cyrus was victorious. The Lydian 
monarch shut himself up in Sardis, which was taken by the Persian conqueror, 
after a short siege of fourteen days. With Croesus fell the great empire of the 
Lydians, and the prediction of the oracle w^as accomplished. 

The Persians brought the captive king into the presence of Cyrus, who 
ordered him to be chained to the summit of a great wooden pile, with fourteen of 
the most noble Lydian youths around him. This was done, says the historian, 
either because the conqueror was desirous of offering to the gods the first fruits of 
his victory, in obedience to a vow, or that he might know whether any deity 
would interfere to liberate Croesus, of whose piety he had heard so much, from the 
danger of being consumed by the fire. Standing upon the funeral pile, with the 
silent firmness of a brave man about to die, the saying of Solon, that no hving 
mortal could be accounted happy, recurred to him. Suddenly heaving a deep sigh, 
he three times pronounced, in a loud voice and with a solemn manner, the name 
of Solon. Cyrus desired to know the meaning of the exclamation, and Croesus 
was compelled to relate the cause of it. He added that he had rather that all 
kings should confer with Solon than be master of the greatest riches. Whilst he 
was speaking, the torch was applied to the pile. Cyrus felt compunction for his 
deed, and gave orders for Croesus to be released. But the flames had already 
beo-un to ascend on every side, and human aid was of no avail in the endeavour to 
suppress them. In this exigency the pious Lydian called upon Apollo for help, 
and the god heard his prayer.* A sudden and heavy fall of rain extinguished the 
fire, and Croesus was taken down from the pile. Crcesus then became a firm friend 
and adviser of his conqueror, who held him in the highest esteem. The story of 
the rescue of the captive king is altogether improbable, and is not sufficiently- 
confirmed by other ancient writers. . Herodotus appears to have forgotten that 
the Persians w^orshipped fire, and we should, on that account, scarcely suppose 
that they would use it as a means of inflicting death upon a prisoner. Croesus, 
however, was always after his defeat a friend of Cyrus, who, on his death-bed, 
recommended his son, Cambyses, to watch over the wise counsellor, who in turn 
was requested to favour Cambyses with his advice. He discharged his duty so 
faithfully as to offend Cambyses, who, in a fit of passion, ordered him to be 
put to death. The officers charged with his execution, ventured to disobey their 
orders; and when the king soon afterwards repented of his rashness, they brought 
Croesus to him, and he was pardoned and received again into royal favour. 

* Herodotus, i. 87. 




CHAPTER V. 

SYKIA. 




SECTION I. 

NDER the name of Syria was included Syria Proper, which 
comprises the provinces of Comm.igene, Seleucis, and Ccele- 
Syria ; Phoenicia, and the country of the PhiHstines, and 
Palestine. It was bounded by Cilicia on the north, by the 
Euphrates and Arabia on the east, by Arabia and Egypt 
on the south, and by the Mediterranean on the west. Pales- 
tine, on account of the importance of its geography and 
history, will be reserved as the subject of a separate chapter. The province 
of Commagene was the northern extremity of Syria, on the declivity of Mount 
Taurus and Amanus. Its principal city was Samosata, now Semisat, on the 
Euphrates, the birth-place of Lucian. In its immediate vicinity were several 
trading towns of minor importance. Seleucis, at a late period, was adorned with 
many cities. Immediately on the Cilician confines was Alexandria, the modern 
Alexandretta or Scanderona. South-west from it, and inland, was the famous 
city of Antiochia or Antioch, now almost depopulated, and called Antakia. It 
was built in honour of Antiochus, by his son Seleucus-Nicator, one of the ablest 
of Alexander's generals. In the dismemberment of the Macedonian empire, 
Seleucus received Syria for his share, and his descendants on the throne of Syria 
were called Seleucidae. It was in Antioch that the disciples of our Saviour were 
first called Christians. The city was built on the river Orontes or El-Desi. This 
river rises on the eastern side of the range of Libanus, and flows by a northerly 
course to the Mediterranean, into which it falls about six leagues below Antioch. 
It was at first called the Typhon, and received its name of Orontes from the 
person who first built a bridge over it. In the winter season it is a considerable 

(IIV) 



118 SYRIA. 

stream, but in summer it is very small. Near its banks, five miles below Antioch, 
were the celebrated grove and fountains of Daphne, consecrated to the worship 
of Venus, and remarkable for the licentiousness of its visiters. Its modern name 
is Beit-el-ma, or the House of Water. Near the mouth of the Orontes was 
Seleucia, built by Seleucus-Nicator. South of it was the Mons Casius, a very 
lofty mountain, spoken of by Pliny, who states, in an exaggerated style, that the 
rising sun could be seen from the top of it at three o'clock, A.M., whilst the base 
was enveloped in darkness. Further south, on the small river Marcias, which 
falls into the Orontes, was the important city of Apamea, built by Seleucus-Nicator, 
who there kept five hundred war elephants. Below it was Epiphaneia, south-east 
of which, at Emesa, was a temple of the Sun, the priest of which, though only 
fourteen years of age, was made Emperor of Rome by the licentious soldiery, and 
was named Heliogabalus, from his connexion with the temple. 

Near Zengma, the principal passage of the Euphrates, were the three cities 
of Pindenissus, taken by Cicero, B. C. 52, Hierapolis (so named from being the 
seat of the worship of the Syrian goddess Atergatis), and Batnse, noted for its 
delightful situation. South-west of these were three others, Chalybon, the modern 
Aleppo or Haleb, Chalcis, now Old Haleb, and Cyrrhus, now Corns. Each of 
these cities gave its name to the surrounding district. South-west of Emesa, on 
the opposite side of the Orontes, was the celebrated city of Heliopolis or Baalbec, 
where the ruins of a most magnificent temple of the Sun are still to be seen. This 
is situated in Coele-Syria, or Hollow-Syria, so called because it lies between two 
parallel chains of mountains, Libanus and Anti-Libanus. South of Heliopolis was 
Damascus or Demesk, noted in both profane and sacred history. It was beauti- 
fully situated in a valley called the Orchard of Damascus, and watered by a river 
called by the Greeks, Bardine or the Golden Stream, now named Baradi. 

Adjoining Coele-Syria was the Syrian desert, in the midst of which, on a 
fertile oasis, stood the city of Palmyra or Tada-mora, the city of palm-trees, now 
Tadmor in the Wilderness. It was founded by Solomon, and was a famous city 
in the days of its queen, Zenobia, who was the wife of Odenatus, and whose 
secretary was the author of the Treatise on the Sublime, the celebrated Longinus. 
Its ruins rival those of Baalbec in magnitude and beauty. South-east of Palmyra 
was Thapsacus, now El-Der, at which the Euphrates was fordable. This ford 
was crossed by Cyrus in his expedition against Artaxerxes, B.C. 40], afterwards 
by Darius, subsequently to his defeat at Issus, B. C, 333, and in B. C. 330, by 
Alexander in pursuit of Darius, before the battle of Arbela. 

PhcEnicia skirted the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean, but its boundaries 
were continually varying. Nearly opposite to the promontory of Cyprus, was 
Laodicea, now Ladikieh ; below it was Aradus, now Ravad. Below Aradus is 
Tripolis, now Taraboli, near which was the little river Adonis, now called 
Nahr-Ibrahim. The waters of this river, at the anniversary of the death of 
Adonis, which was in the rainy season, are tinged with the colour of the red 
ochrous particles from the mountains of Libanus. Taking advantage of this, the 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 119 

mythologists asserted that the river flowed with the blood of Adonis, who was 
annually killed by a boar in the winter, and restored to life again in the spring. 
Below the Adonis were Byblus and Berytus, the modern Beyroot, which is still a 
good harbour. Below Berytus was Sidon, the most ancient commercial city in 
the world, and near it was Sarepta, the scene of Elijah's miracles. Still lower 
than Sarepta, is the modern city of Sar, the ancient Tyre, the " daughter of 
Sidon." Tyre was a colony of the Sidonians, founded before the records of 
history : it was properly two cities, New Tyre, on an island, and Old Tyre or 
Palae-Tyros, on the main land. It rose rapidly above the parent state, and 
became a flourishing commercial city. It was never taken by an enemy until 
about B. C. 573, when it fell into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, after a siege of 
thirteen years. 

While the Babylonians were employed in the siege, a great portion of the 
inhabitants sought shelter upon the island, where they already had large com- 
mercial establishments, and thus commenced the building of New Tyre, B.C. 600. 
It would seem from the prophecies of Ezekiel, c. xxvi. and xxix., that Palae-Tyros 
finally fell into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar ; but that the Babylonian conqueror 
found it so impoverished as to afford him no compensation for the time and labour 
he had wasted in besieging it.* In revenge, he totally ruined it, though insular 
Tyre immediately commenced rising in wealth and political importance. That the 
old city really fell into the hands of the Babylonians has, however, been denied by 
some authors, who rest their statements on the total silence of Phoenician and 
Greek writers upon this subject. 

The two cities were together nineteen miles in circumference ; but Tyre 
alone was but four. Owing to its limited extent, the houses were built several 
stories high ; it was protected by walls of hewn stone, and had two harbours, one 
on the north, towards Sidon, and the other on the south, towards Egypt. The 
latter was entered by a narrow passage, which could be closed at any time by a 
boom or chains. It was finally captured, after a desperate resistance, by Alex- 
ander the Great, who robbed it of its ancient opulence and splendour, less by his 
arms than by the foundation of Alexandria, which soon became the commercial 
metropolis of the world. f 

The soil of Syria is better adapted to pasturage than tillage, and the chief 
supply of food consumed by the inhabitants was brought from Egypt. The 
natural wealth of the country was increased by two large valleys of mineral salt, 
and by the excellent adaptation of the timber of Lebanon to house and ship- 
building. Syria was then only fitted to be the residence of a people partly nomad 
and partly commercial. The government naturally differed in diflferent sections 
of the country. In the towns and cities, a government of a republican form 
prevailed, whilst the rural districts were subject to petty despots. The inhabitants 
worshipped deities, which were the personifications of some of the powers of nature, 

* Ilieronymus ad Ezech. xxvi. 7. t Heeren. 



120 SYRIA. 

and whose rites were much more sanguinary than those of most other nations. 
The Syrian goddess Astarte represented both the moon and the prohfic power of 
the earth, and her worship was attended with the same hcentious ceremonies that 
marked the reverence paid to the Babylonian Myhtta. 

Almost every one of the many islands on the coast was a commercial establish- 
ment, forming an independent state. The cities were all possessed of a similar 
internal government, and the whole number of cities and islands were leagued 
together into a confederacy, at the head of which first stood Sidon, and afterwards 
Tyre. The space between these places, says Heeren, was covered with a number 
of towns of less import, but equally the abode of industry, and widely celebrated 
for their arts and manufactures. Among these were Sarepta, Botrys, Orthosia, 
and others, forming, as it were, one unbroken city, extending along the whole line 
of coast and over the islands, and with the harbours and sea-ports, and the 
numerous fleets lying within them, affording altogether a spectacle scarcely to be 
equalled in the world, and such as must have excited in the stranger who visited 
them, the highest idea of the opulence, the power, and the enterprising spirit of the 
inhabitants. St. Jerome and St. Augustine, the latter of whom lived in Africa 
when the Punic tongue was still spoken, and who acknowledges himself to have 
been of Punic origin, state that the Phoenician language was very similar to the 
Hebrew, and antiquarians have come to the conclusion that Phoenicia gave an 
alphabet to Greece. 

The system of colonization was pursued to a great extent by the Phoenicians, 
though with motives widely different from those of the Romans and Macedonians 
in ancient times, and the Russians in our own days, whose colonies may be re- 
garded as frontier provinces, kept in subjection by military estabhshments. They 
wished merely to secure a lucrative commerce, by establishing a market for their 
own productions, and a carrying trade for their merchants and seamen. This 
system of extending their commerce and influence by colonization, was a natural 
consequence of their trade, and their peculiar form of internal government.* 
Ancient republican states were well acquainted with the dangers to be apprehended 
from the overgrown population of large commercial cities, and they naturally 
sought for a remedy in colonization. The history of the founding of Carthage 
serves to show, that notwithstanding this precaution, internal commotions caused 
new emigrations, the weaker discontented party leaving their country to seek 
foreign abodes. Though the Phoenicians were less engaged in wars than the 
Carthaginians, and other commercial nations, yet they did not entirely avoid 
schemes of foreign conquest, which they carried on chiefly by troops hired from 
the neighbouring nations ; and the other cities of Phoenicia were obliged to send 
their quotas to the land and sea forces of the metropolis. The inhabitants of 
Sidon and the island city of Aradus were her mariners. The wise men of Byblus 
were her calkers. Persians, Lydians, Africans, the men of Aradus, and the 
mountaineers of Lebanon, composed her army.f 

* Juatin, xviii. 4. Heeren. f-Ezekiel, xxvii. 8 — 11. 



PIICENICIAN COLONIES. 121 

The Phcpnician colonies were sent out under the auspices of the tutelary 
deity Melcarth, and to his guidance they attributed their success. When the 
Greeks identified Melcarth with Hercules, the progress of the Phonnician colonies 
was represented as the consequence of his exploits. They proceeded from east to 
west, along the coasts of the Mediterranean, occupying the principal islands. The 
common worship of this national and colonial deity also served as a bond of union 
for the mother country and her colonies, strengthening the connexion between 
them. Though the Phoenicians did not greatly extend their conquests on the 
main land, yet they enjoyed a wide range in the isles of the Mediterranean. Of 
these, the most attractive was the largest and nearest, the isle of Cyprus, which 
early became not only a colony, but a province of the Tyrians, and from which 
they extended their settlements in a direction, from east to west, along the shores 
of the Mediterranean. The progress of colonization and the consequent civilization 
of those shores, is intended to be represented in the account given by Diodorus of 
the expedition of the Tyrian Hercules to Iberia, to make war on Chrysaor, "the 
rich in gold."* Spain, says the fable, submitted to him, and he came back with the 
oxen of Geryon through Gaul, Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia. Accordingly, we findf 
that Crete, and other islands in the Archipelago, were first peopled by Phcenician 
colonies. I Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia, were next visited by them, and their cities 
spread along the coasts. 

The colonies rarely attempted the conquest of the interior of the countries on 
the coasts of which they settled ; and their establishments in Sicily and Sardinia 
appear to have been mere naval stations for the vessels employed in the trade with 
Western Europe, particularly with Spain. 

The Spanish peninsula, called in Scripture, Tarshish, was the main source of 
Phoenician wealth, and the principal seat of its trade ; and colonies were planted 
beyond the Straits of Gibraltar, the ancient Pillars of Hercules. § The commerce 
of Tyre was even extended to the British islands, and the coasts of the North 
Sea ; since they furnished the Greeks and Asiatics with tin and amber. Leptis, 
Carthage, Utica, and many other colonies were planted] | in the period of Tyre's 
greatest splendour, from 1100 to 550 B. C, and some of the African cities soon 
attained superiority over other Phoenician settlements, and even rivalled Tyre 
itself in wealth and magnificence. The colonies of these cities were extended to 
Western Africa, and some have supposed them to have even reached the island of 
Madeira. Though they settled on the coasts of AsialT Minor and the Black Sea 
before the Greeks, they voluntarily ceded to the latter these coasts, together with 
Southern Italy and the Sicilian shores,** and avoided interference with them on the 
coasts of Gaul. But it may be added, that they cast an almost impenetrable veil 

* Diodorus, i. p. 262. + Iloeren's Resoarclies. 

I Bochart, p. 4(16. Diodorus, i. p. 377. 5 Strabo, p. 236. 

II Bochart, p. 373. Aristotle de Mirabil. c. 146. 

IT Herodotus, ii. 44. ** Tliucyd. vi. 2. 

Vol. I. 16 



122 SYRIA. 

over their western intercourse, of which the Greek poets took advantage to 
embellish their fictitious narratives of voyages and travels with the most fanciful 
inventions. The stories which they caused to be spread abroad, of their custom 
of sacrificing strangers to their gods, seem to have been invented solely for the 
purpose of preventing foreigners from intruding themselves into their settlements. 
In early times, the access of the Phcenicians to the Arabian Gulf, was closed by 
the Edomites, the enemies of the Jews. When the power of that nation was 
crushed by the arms of the great King David, the Phcenicians immediately opened 
a way to the Red Sea by treaty,* and in common with Solomon, were quickly 
engaged in a new and very lucrative branch of southern commerce. 

The textile fabrics of Tyre and Sidon were well known in the earliest 
antiquity, the beautifully coloured garments of Sidon being celebrated by Homer.f 
The raw material was imported from Egypt where they had several factories, and 
the Egyptians also furnished them with large quantities of spun-yarn, in the pro- 
duction of which they excelled. The fam.ous Tyrian purple was not a single 
colour; but was a name applied to all the shades of purple and scarlet. J The dye 
was obtained from a shell-fish which abounded on the shores of the Mediterranean. 
Vegetable dyes, of great beauty and variety, were also used ; and the dyeing was 
invariably performed upon the raw material,^ the Phoenicians alone understanding 
the art of producing shot colours by using threads of different tints.] | Sidon and 
Sarepta were early engaged in the manufacture of glass, of which they were the 
inventors, and long the sole manufacturers. IT Carvings in wood and ivory,** and 
manufactures of jewellery, ornaments of dress, and baubleSjff complete the list of 
products of Tyrian industry ; the interchange of foreign commodities appearing 
to have chiefly constituted their commerce. 

The land trade of the Phcenicians may be divided into three great branches : 
the southern or Arabian-East-Indian, the eastern or the Assyrian-Babylonian, and 
the northern or Armenian-Caucasian. From Arabia Felix, caravans brought 
gold;|| from the shores of Africa, precious stones, frankincense, myrrh, and 
cassia. In the same way, before they had a port on the Red Sea, they ob- 
tained cinnamon, and many other spices, ivory, ebony, and other products of 
Southern India and Africa .§§ The prophet Ezekiel (chap, xxvii. 19 — 23), fully 
describes this trade, and many of the places named in his account, still retain 
their ancient appellations. The Arabian trade was principally carried on by 
caravans. The nomad nations in the neighbourhood of Tyre were employed to 
conduct her carrying trade. While Thebes was the chief city of Egypt, the trade 
with that country was chiefly over land, but when the seat of government was 

* Gesenius, i. 904. t Iliad, vi. 291. Odys, xv. 424. 

\ Amati de restitutione purpurarum, b. c. 5 Amati, p. xxxv. 

II Amati, p. xlii. IT PJiny, xxxvi. 26. 

** Ezek. xxvii. 6. ff Odys. xv. 459. Gesenius. 

\l Taylor. {j Herod, b. c. 



PHCENICIAN COLONIES. 



123 



removed to Memphis, one-fourth of the city was assigned to Phoenician merchants, 
thus showing conclusively how extensive their transactions must have heen with 
this nation. Palestine was to Phoenicia what Sicily was to Rome ; from thence 
they drew their supplies of corn, w'ine, oil, sweetmeats, honey, balm, and last, 
though perhaps of the greatest importance, wool. Their dependence on Palestine 
for grain, will fully explain the strict alliance of the two neighbouring countries. 

The most important branch of the eastern trade of Tyre was with the 
interior of Asia, through Babylon. The greater part of the route lay through the 
Syrian desert ; and it was in order to procure for his subjects a share in the 
lucrative traffic, that Solomon " built Baalath (Baall)ec), and Tadmor (Palmyra) 
in the desert," exactly in the great highway of eastern commerce Had not 
the revolt of the ten tribes and the consequent wars frustrated the plan of this 
wise and politic sovereign, his successors might have reaped almost incalculable 
advantages from a share in this lucrative trade. The northern branch of the 
Tyrian land trade was the least, and would have remained unknown but for the 
casual mention made of it by the prophet (Ezek. xxvii. 13, 14). Cappadocia and 
the Caucasian districts furnished slaves for the trade carried on by the Phoenicians, 
which drew down upon them the denunciations of the Jewish prophets, Joel and 
Amos. The wines also of these regions formed another article of the commerce 
of the Tyrians. The horses of Armenia conclude the list of commodities for 
which the Phoenicians bartered with the northern nations. The prophet makes a 
distinction between the two kinds of horses — the common or inferior, and the 
nobler. In the latter we recognise, says Heeren, the Nysssean horses, the stately 
coursers of antiquity, no less celebrated for their colour and the splendour of their 
hides, than for their beautiful symmetry. They, alone, were deemed worthy to 
draw the cars of the Persian monarchs. 





SECTION II. 

RIGINALLY, Syria was divided into a number of petty states, 
of which one of the most ancient was Damascus. It is supposed 
to have been founded by Uz, the eldest son of Aram. It was 
conquered, with many other Syrian states, by King David — but 
freed itself from the Jewish yoke in the time of Solomon, and 
afterwards became the source of much trouble to the kingdoms of 
Judah and Israel. Its first king was Rezon, who raisejl himself to that dignity from 
the condition of a slave. He was followed by Benhadad, whose long and sanguinary 
wars against the kingdom of Israel, were terminated by his murder, B. C. 884, 
by one of his servants, named Hazael. The assassin usurped the throne, and 
commenced a career of conquest. He forced the kings of Judah and Israel to 

(124) 




FALL OP TYRE. 



12o 



resign to him several valuable provinces and to pay him tribute. But all the 
advantages he had gained were lost by his effeminate son, Eenhadad II. Under 
the brave llezin, the Syrians were allied with the ten tribes against the King of 
.Judah, who was forced, by his losses, to claim the protection of Tiglath Pileser, 
King of Assyria. The latter marched against Damascus, took the city, dragged 
away the inhabitants into captivity, and terminated the Kingdom of Damascus, 
E. C. 740. 

The first sovereign of Tyre was Abical, B. C. ]050, who was cotemporary 
with David. His son and successor, Hiram, was united in bonds of the strictest 
friendship with the great Jewish king and his son Solomon. During his reign, all 
Phoenicia was brought into subjection by Tyre. Of the successors of Hiram, 
Ethbaal I. deserves notice as the father of Jezebel, wife of Ahab. Pygmalion, 
the brother of Elissa, or Dido, whose murder of Acerbus led to the settlement of 
Carthage, B. C. 900, was celebrated for his covetousness and cruelty. The 
Tvrians exercised their power over the neighbouring cities with such severity, 
that they revolted, and, applying to the Assyrians for relief, occasioned the conquest 
by Nebuchadnezzar. On the fall of Babylon, the cities of PhcEnicia submitted 
to Cyrus. Tyre again became independent, and supplied the strength of the 
Persian naval power. After being taken by Alexander of Macedon, B. C. 332, 
it sunk into hopeless decay. 





MOUNT ZION. 

CHAPTER VI. 

PALESTINE 




SECTION I. 

HE name of Palestine was derived from the Philistsei, who inha- 
bited the coast. It is bounded on the north by Phoenicia and Coele- 
I Syria, on the east by Arabia Deserta, on the south by Arabia Pe- 
'1} trsea, and on the west by the Mediterranean or the Great Sea.* At 
(UfFerent periods of its history, it was variously divided, being at 
first portioned among the twelve tribes, afterwards divided into 
the kingdoms of Judah and Israel, and finally into toparchies or small provinces by 
its Persian, Grecian, and Roman conquerors. Its mountains are its most remarkable 
geographical features. From the perpetual snow which crowns its summit, Lebanon, 
the White Mountain, derived its name : it consists of four ridges of mountains rising 
successively above each other, on the highest of which were the celebrated forests 

* The authorities for this and the following text are Professor Heeren, Taylor, and Dr. Butler 

(120) 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 127 

of cedars. The snow used in the Phoenician cities to cool their liquors, was pro- 
cured from Herraon, another lofty range. Farther to the south was Tabor, the 
scene of Christ's transfiguration. Carmel, the vine of God, was a lofty range on 
the sea-coast, remarkable for its blooming vineyards. The Mount of Olives, and 
Mount Moriah or Calvary, join the city of Jerusalem. Engadi, the goat fountain, 
was celebrated for its numerous brooks and palm-groves. Near the city of 
Shechera were Ebal and Gerizim, where the law was ordered to be solemnly pro- 
claimed. By these and other mountains, Palestine is divided into table lands and 
valleys, leaving two great plains called " the region about Jordan," and the plain 
of Jezreel. These valleys and plains were of very unequal value ; some were 
so unproductive as to be called deserts, others were the most fertile spots in 
Western Asia. 

The only great river of Palestine is the Jordan, which falls into theAsphaltic 
Lake, or Dead Sea, once the site of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. The 
waters of this lake, which has no outlet, are bitter and unwholesome. In its 
course, the Jordan flows through the Sea of GaUlee, a beautiful fresh-water lake, 
abounding in fish. 

The principal cities of Palestine were Jerusalem, the metropolis of the king- 
dom of Judah, and Samaria, the capital of Israel. Jerusalem, or Hierosolyma, 
was midway between the Mediterranean and the northern extremity of the Dead 
Sea. It was built on several hills, the largest of which was Mount Zion, which 
formed the southern part of the city. A valley towards the north separated this 
from Acra, the second or lower city, on the east of which was Mount Moriah, 
the site of the temple of Solomon. North of this was Bethesda, where was the 
pool at which the cripple was healed by our Saviour. On Mount Zion, David 
built a magnificent palace, whence this division is frequently called the City of 
David. Besides Mount Moriah, there was another division called the New City, 
inhabited by merchants, tradesmen, and artificers. Each of these four divisions 
was a city of itself, surrounded by its own walls. 

Idumea was situated south of Palestine, beyond the chain of Mount Seir, 
Though generally a rocky and barren country, its natural advantages were 
improved to the utmost. It contained the great city of Petra, celebrated for its 
extended commerce. In the reign of King David it was annexed to the kingdom 
of Israel. 

The valleys of Palestine were, in general, very fruitful, and a far greater 
variety of natural productions and greater variation of climate w^ere caused by the 
difference in the elevation of country, than are usually found in so confined a 
territory. Whilst the hills afforded excellent pasturage for cattle, abundant crops 
of corn were produced in the valleys. The olive and the vine flourished sur- 
prisingly, and the oil and the wine extracted from them, formed, with corn, the 
principal articles of export. The land of Palestine, once flowing with milk and 
honey, has been reduced almost to sterility, by a series of calamities, unparalleled 
in any other portion of the globe. 




S A U A R I A. , 



SECTION II. 




HE portion of the history of Palestine which chiefly interests 
us, is that which is connected with the occupation of the 
country by the Israelites, and which terminates with the 
Babylonian captivity. The struggles of the chosen people 
to recover and maintain their national independence, subse- 
quently to their return from captivity, will be embraced in 
the history of the several Asiatic and European nations who, 
in turn, were successful in wresting it from them. The life, 
the wanderings, and the death of the great Jewish patriarchs — the pathetic and 
interesting story of Joseph and his brethren — the history of the persecutions of the 
Israelites in Egypt — of the plagues brought upon their oppressors, and their mira- 
culous deliverance from bondage by the God of Abraham, through the hand of 
Moses — of their own murmurings, backslidings, and idolatrous propensities in their 
wanderings through the dry and sandy deserts of Arabia — form interesting portions 
of the sacred volume. Referring our readers to that great authority for the pre- 
vious history of the Jewish nation, we shall commence our history at the period of 
the death of Moses, and the assumption of power by Joshua, B. C. 1451. 

Joshua, who was at this time ninety-three years of age, had under his com- 
mand six hundred thousand armed men, besides the aged and infirm, the women, 
children, and servants. At the moment of his invasion of Palestine, the situation 
of Joshua was beset with difficulties. On every side were warlike nations, some 
of which were represented to contain men of gigantic stature and great personal 
prowess, inhabiting well-fortified towns, and prepared to resist invasion. Under 
these circumstances, his first military operation was to send spies to gain intelli- 
gence of the strength and fortifications of Jericho. His messengers, on their return, 
reported that the princes of the country were terrified at the previous successes of 
the IsraeUtes, and Joshua immediately resolved to cross the Jordan. Its waters 



JOSHUA. 129 



parted before the ark of the covenant (as those of the Red Sea had formerly done 
under the rod of Moses), and the army marched across the bed of the river. 

Jericho stood at the extremity of a plain which slopes to the Jordan, and it 
was doubly fortified by nature as well as by art. The inhabitants resolved rather 
to withstand a siege, than to lose their city by a pitched battle with an irresistible 
foe— and, accordingly, retired behind their fortifications. But these were pros- 
trated by a miracle ; the inhabitants were put to the sword, and the indiscriminate 
slaughter reached even to the cattle and beasts of burden. The city was devoted 
to perpetual desolation, and the most terrible maledictions were imprecated upon 
the head of him who should rebuild it. 

The next object of attack was the city of Ai. A detachment of three thou- 
sand men having been totally defeated in an attack upon this place, the failure 
was imputed to the displeasure of the Almighty at some unknown crime. In the 
capture of Jericho, God had expressly enjoined upon the Israelites not to reserve 
to themselves any portion of the plunder. Achan confessed that he had secreted a 
rich Babylonish garment, a wedge of gold, and certain other articles. He was 
stoned, and the rich spoils were pubUcly burnt. A more successful attempt was 
then made upon Ai. The defenders of the city fell into a snare prepared for them 
by Joshua, and were entirely destroyed, while their wives and children were put 
to the sword, and the firebrand was hurled into their unprotected dwellings. 

Shortly afterwards, when the Israelites were encamped at Gilgal, the Gibe- 
onites, whose city was not far distant, obtained a treaty from the conquerors by 
an ingenious stratagem. After the treaty was made, the deception which had 
been practised was discovered, but the lives of the Gibeonites was spared on con- 
dition of their becoming " hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congrega- 
tion, and for the altar of Jehovah." The five kings of the Amorites, headed by 
the King of Jerusalem, soon after made an attack upon the Gibeonites, to whose 
assistance Joshua made a forced march by night. The Canaanites were defeated 
with tremendous slaughter— the five kings were taken from a cave, in which they 
had sought refuge, and put to death, their cities were surrendered, and their tribes 
were exterminated. It was on this occasion that Joshua arrested the sun and 
moon in their courses. 

Except some of the strong fortresses, which the Israehtes had not yet learned 
the art of attacking, the whole southern part of the country, as far as Gaza, was 
now subjugated. The kings of the north had been hitherto indifferent about the 
result of the contest ; but they now perceived their danger, and united their forces 
for a vigorous defence. No power, however, could withstand the warriors of Israel ; 
and the whole country fell into their hands. Seven years had been consumed in 
the conquest, and seven great tribes, headed by thirty-one kings, had fallen under 
the sword. The Israelites now began to be w^eary of the war, and unfortunately 
for the future welfare of the nation, hostilities were suspended; and the intention 
of Moses to exterminate entirely the ancient inhabitants of the land, was never 
carried into effect. 

Vol. I. 17 



130 PALESTINE. 

In consequence of the division of the land among the tribes, and their sepa- 
ration from each other, the patriarchal government long prevailed. But at the 
death of Joshua, the jealousy entertained by the weaker tribes of the more power- 
ful, proved stronger than the bond of a common religion ; and the national union 
must inevitably have been dissolved, but for the dread of a foreign yoke. Under 
the rule of the Judges, seven different periods of servitude are recorded. The 
Philistines and other nations invaded and easily subdued a people torn by internal 
dissensions. In seasons of distress, heroes were raised up to deliver them from 
bondage, and lead them to the worship of the true Jehovah. Of these the most 
celebrated were Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson. The feats and 
military exploits recorded of these are truly wonderful. 

Othniel was the nephew of Caleb. During eight years he waged a bloody 
war with the King of Mesopotamia, who extended his conquests as far as the 
Jordan. The enemy was at last entirely defeated, and the Israelites enjoyed pro- 
found peace for forty years. A war of eighteen years next followed. It was 
ended by the death of their principal opponent, the King of the Moabites, at the 
hands of Ehud, a Benjamite. Eighty years after, war arose between the Israelites 
and the northern Canaanites, who were led by the fomous general, Sisera. During 
twenty years he oppressed the Israelites, until Barak, at the head of the allied 
tribes of Israel, defeated him in a bloody battle ; and Sisera himself was killed in 
the tent of Jael, a woman descended from Hobab, Moses' brother-in-law. This 
happy deliverance is to be ascribed mainly to the high-born and patriotic Deborah, 
whose eloquent appeals to her countrymen led to their organization under Barak. 

The Midianites, Amalekites, and other wild hordes of the desert, next swept 
over the land. The discomfited inhabitants fled to the mountains, where they 
suffered great hardships. Gideon, of the tribe of Manasseh, arose after they 
had been oppressed for many years, and called upon his people to join in an 
attempt to recover their homes. Twenty-two thousand obeyed his summons. Ten 
thousand of these were first selected, and of these but three hundred were deemed 
necessary to accomplish the purposes of the daring Judge. With this small force 
he made a night attack upon the camp of his enemies, who, being thrown into 
confusion by an admirable stratagem of the Jewish leader, fell fiercely upon each 
other, and perished by mutual slaughter. Those who escaped the swords of their 
friends were put to death by the troops of Gideon ; and the war was ended with 
the destruction of 120,000 of the invaders. After judging Israel forty years, 
Gideon was succeeded by his natural son Abimelech, who seized the crown his 
father had rejected. Of all his seventy brothers, Jotham only escaped ; and he 
upbraided the ungrateful Shechemites, in the well-known and beautiful parable of 
the trees choosing a king. 

The administration of Jephthah, as Judge of Israel, was signalized by a sin- 
gular event. The violence of his relatives had driven Jephthah from Gilead ; and 
he put himself at the head of a band, for an expedition against the Ammonites. He 
rashly vowed that, if successful, he would offer as a burnt sacrifice the first living 



JEPIITHAH'S RASH VOW. 



131 







^\ ' /'•^^^^>^>'^\\'\'\\''*^?^ 






thing he should meet on his leturn. 
The hero was successful ; and the 
first thing he met, on his jetuin, ^ -^^^ 

was his own daughter coming out ^^ 
to congratulate hira on his safety. 
After a short interval she ga\e 
herself up a victim. This melan- 
choly sacrifice was annually cele- 
brated b} the Jewish maidens, and 
is, by some commentators, sup- 
posed to ha\e gi\en use to the 
well-known Grecian story of Iph- 
igenia. 

From the seventh servitude 
the Israelites were delivered by 
the bravery of Samson, the son of 
Manoah. An angel foietold his 
birth, and commanded that he 
should be conseciated to the Lord. 
After causing the death of an im- 
mense number of the Philistines, he 
fell into their hands by the arts of 
his wife Delilah. He revenged 
himself for the loss of his eyes, by 







132 PALESTINE. 

pulling down the pillars which supported the roof of a temple, and crushing three 
thousand of his enemies in the ruins. (1117 B. C.) 

The high-priest Eli next governed the people. After an administration of 
twenty years he was succeeded by Samuel, who had been consecrated to God by 
his mother when an infant, and was early made the interpreter of the Divine will. 
He was the last of the fifteen judges, and the first of the prophets. Eli's scheme 
of making the office of judge hereditary in his family was defeated by the conduct 
of his sons, who so incensed the people that they demanded of Samuel a king. 
Saul was chosen by the prophet. The beginning of his reign, 1095 B. C, was 
characterized by prudence and justice. The Amalekites and Philistines were con- 
quered by his arms. Pride and anger led him into disobedience to the commands 
of the Almighty, who chose a successor to the throne of Israel, in the person of 
David, the son of Jesse. 

The heroic conduct of David acquired him much popularity ; but the envy of 
Saul endangered his life. Saul, with three of his sons, perished in a battle with 
the national enemy, on Mount Gilboa, and young David succeeded to the throne. 
Only the tribe of Judah declared for him ; the other eleven choosing Isbbosheth, 
the surviving son of Saul, to be king. Seven years of civil war followed. Isb- 
bosheth was then murdered by his own people, and David became sole king. 

During the reign of David, which lasted forty years, Israel was not only 
freed from the power of her ancient enemies, but her dominions were extended 
from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from the Red Sea to Phoenicia. 
During his reign Jerusalem was made the seat of government and the national 
sanctuary. Towards the close of the reign of David, the Jewish government 
became gradually assimilated to the absolute despotism common in the East. To 
this is to be attributed the domestic guilt which stained his glory, and the true 
cause of the rebellion of his sons. Solomon succeeded his father, in the year 1015 
B. C. The building of the great temple marks the beginning of his reign. The 
splendid edifice, so early erected in honour of Jehovah, attests the perfection to 
which the arts and sciences had already arrived ; and the enormous sum expended 
in its erection proves the despotic nature of his government. The capital was 
enriched at the expense of the distant tribes, whilst the merchant-king monopolized 
the trade carried on with the Tyrians, and, by means of his ports on the Red Sea, 
with Southern Asia and Africa. His great success in every enterprise which 
he undertook, served to confirm the reputation for wisdom which had been gained 
by his prompt and correct decision of the case where two women laid claim to the 
same child, and the true mother was instantly discovered by an appeal to her 
natural affection. 

The wife of Solomon was the daughter of the King of Egypt. She w^as not 
converted to the Jewish religion, but was probably the cause of the idolatry of the 
king. Solomon died in the sixtieth year of his age, and the fortieth of his reign. 
During the latter part of his life, his feelings were much embittered by the gloomy 
prospects which overhung his kingdom. The defection of Syria and the Edomites, 



REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES. 



133 




and the attempt at rebellion made by Jeroboam, with the murmurings of the people, 
were but too certain indications of a coming storm. The tempest broke upon the 
head of his successor, Rehoboam. 

The taxes were considered burdensome by the people, who applied to 
Rehoboam for relief. Rejecting the counsel of his father's aged advisers, he 
ungraciously informed them that their burdens would be increased. The revolt 
of ten tribes was the immediate consequence of this impolitic severity. Jeroboam 
was called to the throne by the seceders, and Judah and Benjamin alone remained 
true to the house of David. 

In order to continue the political division of the two branches of the Jews, 
Jeroboam soon after introduced into the kingdom of Israel a different religion, 
that known as the Samaritan or Israelite. By this means he obviated the necessity 
of undertaking the annual journey to Jerusalem, required by the law of Moses. 
Judah and Benjamin retained the ancient usage of their fathers. 

Jeroboam, having spent the whole of the remainder of his life in war with the 
kings of Judah, was succeeded by his son Nadab. The short reign of this prince 



134 PALESTINE. 

was terminated by his assassination, B. C. 953, at the hands of Baasha, who 
usurped the throne. During the reign of this usurper, which lasted twenty-four 
years, the national existence of the Israelites was much endangered by a hostile 
aUiance of the kings of Judah and Damascus against them. Baasha was the 
founder of the strong fortress Ramah. He was succeeded on the throne by Elah, 
who was speedily overthrown by Zimri. This king had scarcely seated himself 
on the throne, before the army chose Omri to be king. Zimri, in despair, set fire 
to the royal palace, which was consumed, together with himself and his treasures. 
Omri, after defeating another competitor for the throne, transferred the royal 
residence from Tirzah to Samaria, where he ended his days, B. C. 919. His 
impious son, Ahab, succeeded him, and called to share his throne, the blood- 
thirsty Jezebel, daughter of the King of Tyre, and murderess of Naboth. His 
reio-n is chiefly distinguished by the famous contest between Elijah and the priests 
of Baal, and by the wars of Israel and the Syrians, in which the Israelites 
displayed the greatest bravery. 

Ahab died in a battle with the Syrians, while vahantly fighting by the side 
of his ally, Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. He was succeeded by Ahaziah, who, 
meeting with an accident which endangered his life, sent to consult a foreign 
oracle. Elijah coming to rebuke him for this act, was beset by a captain with his 
host of fifty, who came to seize him. They were destroyed by a miracle, and a 
second band shared their fate. When the third officer came, the prophet boldly 
descended from the hill on which he sat, and predicted the death of the king, 
which almost immediately occurred. 

Jehoram next ascended the throne. The miraculous supply of water at the 
prayer of Ehsha, when the army of Israel was perishing in the desert, and the 
lono- siege of Samaria by Benhadad, signalized the reign of this monarch. During 
the siege, the inhabitants were so pressed by famine, that mothers slew and 
devoured their own children, and the city must have surrendered but for the 
sudden panic and flight of the Syrians, according to the prediction of Elisha. An 
immense booty taken from the deserted camp of their enemies, rewarded the 
Samaritans for their sufferings. 

Jehu, after murdering Jehoram, and the whole house of Ahab, seized the 
throne (883 B. C), and immediately abolished the worship of Baal ; although he 
himself did not forsake idolatry. The whole of his territory beyond the Jordan 
was reduced by Hazael, who had secured the throne of Syria by murdering 
Benhadad. Jehu was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz, 855 B. C, whose reign of 
seventeen years was stormy and troubled. The grandson of Jehu, Jehoash, next 
ascended the throne, and succeeded in rescuing his kingdom from its fidlen 
condition, and in restoring it to its former prosperity. He also totally routed the 
army of Amaziah, King of Judah, pillaged Jerusalem, and carried the spoils to 
Samaria. He was succeeded by his son Jeroboam II., a brave and warlike prince, 
during whose reign, which lasted forty-two years, the Israelites gained many 
victories over their enemies, the Syjians and the people of Judah. At his death. 



FALL OF THE TEN TRIBES. 135 

B. C. 781, an interregnum of eleven years ensued, during which anarchy and 
confusion prevailed throughout the land. At length, B. C. 770, Zachariah, son 
of Jeroboam II., obtained the sceptre, but was quickly murdered by Shallum, who, 
in turn, soon after fell by the hand of the sanguinary usurper Menahem, 769 B. C. 
Menahem reigned ten years. 

The Assyrian empire had now nearly attained its greatest power, and its 
rulers began to cast their ambitious gaze towards Palestine. Menahem purchased 
the friendship of the Ninevite monarch by the payment of a thousand talents of 
silver, w^ung from the possessions of his already overtaxed subjects. The son of 
Menahem, Pekahiah, succeeded to the throne, which he held two years ; when he 
w^as murdered by a new usurper, Pekah the son of Remaliah, the last able king of 
Israel. United with Rezin, King of Damascus, Pekah invaded Lower Judea, and 
carried off many of the inhabitants as captives. But, at the command of the pro- 
phets, he clothed and fed these unfortunate persons, and sent them back into their 
own country. Rezin having seized Elath, and the Edomites and Philistines 
revolting, Ahaz, King of Judah, threw himself on the protection of Tiglath-pul- 
assar or Tiglath-pileser, King of Assyria. That monarch marched into the trans- 
jordanic territory, besieged and took Damascus, and put an end to the Syrian 
kingdom. 

The ten tribes were now fast approaching the end of their national existence. 
Hoshea, one of the generals in the army of Israel, instigated the assassination of 
the brave Pekah, but was unable immediately to seat himself upon the throne. A 
second period of anarchy and civil war followed. At the end of eight years, how- 
ever, Hoshea succeeded in firmly establishing himself in the government. The 
head of the Assyrian monarchy was now Shalmaneser, a new and ambitious king, 
of whom Hoshea sought to purchase peace. But having been detected in a secret 
correspondence with the King of Egypt, his capital was besieged by the enraged 
Assyrian. The defence of Samaria lasted three years, when the city fell and the 
kingdom terminated. Most of the inhabitants were carried off beyond the Euphra- 
tes, and history loses sight of them as a distinct people. Their country was given 
to Syrian colonists, from whom and the remnant of the Israelites, the Samaritans 
were principally descended. These adopted a corrupted form of the true religion, 
but always preserved a most bitter hostility to the Jews. The only accounts of 
their history have come down to modern times through the Jewish historians, who 
were no less implacable than their hated rivals. 

Rehoboam, though he received into his kingdom the priests, the Levites, and 
others who adhered to the true religion of Jehovah, was as unprincipled and 
wicked as his enemy Jeroboam. In the fifth year of his reign, a mighty host 
came from Egypt and Ethiopia, and captured all the fortified cities of Judah except 
the metropolis. Rehoboam, in order to purchase their forbearance, stripped the 
temple of its golden plate and ornaments, and supplied their place with brass. 
He waged perpetual war with the ten tribes who had revolted, until his death, 
962 B. C. His son Abijah, who succeeded him, is chiefly noted for a victory 



136 PALESTINE. 

gained over Jeroboam, in which the latter lost 500,000 of his troops. Asa was 
his successor. This monarch so won the favour of God by his piety, that he was 
enabled to overcome the hordes of Ethiopians who came to devastate the country. 
He afforded every protection to those of the Israelites who sought refuge in his 
dominions. These became so numerous that Baasha was compelled to build Ramah, 
a city on the frontier, to intercept the fugitives. But while it was building, war 
broke out, and Asa carried off the materials which his rival had collected for its 
construction. 

Asa swayed the sceptre forty-one years. He was succeeded by Jehoshaphat, 
the great enemy of idolatry. Under his reign, the kingdom attained a greater 
prosperity than it had known since the days of Solomon. But, in an evil hour, 
Jehoshaphat contracted an alliance with Ahab, and married his son to the daugh- 
ter of that monarch. Having complied with the request of Ahab to assist him in 
taking the city of Ramoth in Gilead, contrary to the advice of Micaiah, he nar- 
rowly escaped the fate of his ally. On his return, Jehoshaphat found that the 
Moabites, the Amorites, and the Edomites, had assembled in arms against him. 
The two armies were encamped on opposite heights ; and the warriors of Judah 
were singing a battle-hymn, when a sudden confusion in the lines of their enemies 
arrested their attention. Disputes had arisen among the allies, and they fell upon 
and destroyed each other, leaving to Jehoshaphat the easy task of carrying off the 
great amount of booty with which they had enriched their camp. 

This wise and virtuous prince was succeeded by his impious son, Jehoram, 
B. C. 893, whose whole reign presents a succession of public losses and private 
calamities. When at length a loathsome disease had terminated his career, his 
youngest son Ahaziah ascended the throne. He was a son in every way worthy 
of his father, and a fit companion for his ally, Jehoram, King of Israel, son of the 
wicked Jezebel. 

Jehoram, having been wounded in a battle fought by the allied kings with 
Hazael, retired to Jezreel, whither Ahaziah went to visit him. While there, Jehu 
rebelled, and the two kings marched against him. Jehoram was pierced to the 
heart by an arrow aimed by the unerring hand of his general, and Ahaziah fled to 
avoid a similar fate. But the time had come when his wickedness was to be 
rewarded. He received a mortal wound from the adherents of the rebel captain, 
and died at Megiddo, whence his body was carried to Jerusalem. His reign lasted 
but a single year. At his death, his mother seized the sceptre, and caused all the 
royal family to be murdered, except the infant Joash, whose aunt ordered him to 
be concealed and educated in the temple. She reigned six years, w^hen the priests 
and the people crowned Joash king, and murdered her as she came to the temple 
to ascertain the cause of the shouts of the multitude. 

The chief-priest Jehoiada acted as regent during the minority of Joash, and 
employed himself in rooting idolatry from the land. But when he died, his royal 
pupil, in the true spirit of his father, zealously commenced and continued the 
restoration of the idols, the groves, and the high places. His reign, marked by 



HEZEKIAH. 137 

unsuccessful wars with the Syrians, was terminated by assassination. Like his 
grandfather Jehoram, he was denied a place in the sepulchre of the kings, though 
the man " who had done good to Israel," the priest Jehoiada, was admitted to 
that honour. 

Amaziah succeeded his father Joash, and immediately executed justice on the 
murderers, B. C. 838. He raised an army of 300,000 men in Judah and 100,000 
in Israel, for an invasion of the revolted kingdom of Edom. But, at the word of a 
prophet, he sent the men of Israel back to their own country, and wreaked liis 
vengeance on the Edomites with the aid of his own subjects. He next, as if in 
gratitude to the gods of his enemies for delivering their worshippers into his hand, 
instituted the worship of them in his own country ; and as the Israelites, smarting 
under the indignity which he had put upon them in rejecting their services, had 
surprised some of the cities of Judah, he sent a defiance to Jehoash, King of Israel. 

In the war which ensued, Jerusalem was taken and pillaged. Amaziah was 
murdered by his own subjects, B. C. 809. His son Azariah or Uzziah next 
ascended the throne. He enjoyed a prosperous and happy reign of fifty-two 
years. He subjugated the Philistines and other neighbouring tribes, and recovered 
Elath, on the Red Sea. But he began to usurp the office of the priests, and was 
struck with leprosy while attempting to offer sacrifice. His son Jotham then 
took the reins of government. Pious as his father, though less presumptuous, he 
followed out the system of internal improvements which Azariah had commenced, 
strengthened his army, made the Amorites tributary, and died, leaving the throne 
to the worst and most unfortunate king who had ruled in Judah, his son Ahaz, 
B.C. 742. Under Ahaz the whole land was quickly filled with idolatry, and the 
people were dreadfully punished for their wickedness. In a pitched battle against 
the Israehtes and Syrians, 12,000 men of Judah perished ; and 200,000 of the 
inhabitants were carried away captive, but were afterwards allowed to return. 
Ahaz, having sought the aid of Tiglath-pileser, paid him to assist in the reduction 
of the revolted Edomites and Philistines, and the defeat of the Israelites and 
Syrians. The wily Assyrian conquered Damascus; and though he sent no aid to 
Ahaz in his wars with the Edomites, exhausted the kingdom of Judah by exacting 
a heavy tribute. Although the misfortunes of Ahaz continually increased, he still 
practised idolatry ; and Jerusalem would soon have fidlen, had not his death freed 
the people from the consequences of his misconduct. Though the body of Ahaz 
was refused the rites of burial in the sepulchre of kings, his son succeeded to the 
throne, B. C. 726. 

Hezekiah was more fervent in the worship of Jehovah than any of his prede- 
cessors had been. Under the advice and direction of the prophet Isaiah, he 
restored the Mosaic religion. He ventured to shake off the Syrian yoke ; but was 
forced to purchase a peace from Sennacherib. But he refused to submit to the 
terms demanded, on a second invasion, and was miraculously delivered from the 
army of the blasphemous Rabshakeh. At the close of his reign, which lasted 
twenty-nine years, the iniquitous Manasseh ascended the throne. During his 

' Vol. I. 18 



138 PALESTINE. 

reign the worship of Baal was re-established, and if we may believe tradition, the 
holy prophet Isaiah sawn asunder. The Assyrians invaded the kingdom, stormed 
the metropolis, and carried the king in chains to Babylon, He was afterwards, 
however, restored to his kingdom, which he ruled justly during the remainder of 
his life. His son Amon next swayed the sceptre. Following the early career of 
his father, he fell, at the end of two years, a victim to a conspiracy of his officers, 
B. C. 640. 

The virtuous Josiah, though but eight years old, now came to the throne. 
He first ordered the temple to be repaired, and was rejoiced to learn that while the 
work was in progress, the high-priest Hilkiah had found the original copy of the 
law. The king and the people renewed the solemn covenant with God, and every 
vestige of idolatry was soon extirpated from the land. The authority of Josiah, 
says Milman,* was acknowledged, and his orders fulfilled to the most remote 
parts of Palestine ; an apparent proof that, notwithstanding the numbers that had 
been carried away into the foreign colonies, the ten tribes were not so entirely 
exterminated, but that their descendants, at least of the lower orders, were still 
the predominant population of the country. The pious king completed the reform 
he had made, by the celebration of the passover, on a scale of the utmost gran- 
deur and magnificence. But the Lord had ordained that the " pride of Judah" 
should be cut off. The Assyrian monarchy had fallen before the rising greatness 
of Babylon, and the sovereign of Egypt determined to take advantage of the 
circumstance to extend his dominions. His object was to gain possession of Car- 
chemish on the Euphrates, but Josiah, bound to the enemies of the Egyptians by 
ties of gratitude, refused to allow him a safe passage through his territories. A 
battle ensued, in which Josiah was mortally wounded. The Egyptian monarch, 
after a victory over the Assyrians and the capture of Carchemish, took possession 
of Jerusalem, where . a younger son of Josiah, Jehoahaz, had been raised to the 
throne. After a reign of three months, the unhappy king was deposed and impri- 
soned, and his brother made king in his stead, B. C. 609. 

Jehoiakim had occupied the throne four years, when Nebuchadnezzar assumed 
the command of the armies of the Babylonian empire. Jeremiah had warned the 
king and the people against any attempt at rebellion, but his admonitions were 
disregarded. Nebuchadnezzar retook Carchemish, crossed the Euphrates, and 
overran all Syria and Palestine, B. C. 601, and carried Jehoiakim captive to 
Babylon. On making submission he was released, and again assumed the sceptre. 
Three years after, he imprudently revolted from the Assyrian yoke. The subju- 
gation of the kingdom was left to the neighbouring tribes, who ravaged the 
country during the three succeeding years, when Jehoiakim, who had been shut 
up in Jerusalem, died, leaving his falling power to his son Jehoiachin. This 
prince had scarcely seated himself on the throne before he was carried off to 
Babylon, with his family, his treasures, and the greater part of his army, nobility, 

* History of the Jews, Vol. I. 



DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 



139 



and subjects, by the powerful Nebuchadnezzar. His uncle Zedekiah was per- 
mitted to reign over the shadow of a kingdom ; but adversity could teach no 
wisdom to the headstrong descendant of Josiah. He, contrary to the advice of 
Jeremiah, raised the standard of revolt, depending on the Egyptians for aid. The 
enraged Nebuchadnezzar came once more to Jerusalem. The Egyptians, as might 
have been expected, left the weak Zedekiah to his fate. Whilst endeavouring to 
make their escape in the plains of Jericho, the king and his friends were taken. 
His wives and children were slain in his presence, and his eyes were then put out. 
The city and temple were razed to the ground, and the king and the inhabitants 
transported to Babylon. With the destruction of the city ceased the independent 
national existence of the Jews for many ages. 




D E S T It " 1. . I O ■. O . 




^(k^M^. 



CHAPTER VII. 
r E U S I A . 




SECTION I. 

egfapllfal ©uilIiEc — political and ^©ctal ©omjiitiijii, 

ERSIA, styled, by its inhabitants in both ancient and modern times, 
Iran, embraced, in its utmost extent, all the countries from the 
I Indus to the Mediterranean, and from the Caspian to the Persian 
Gulf and Indian Ocean. Persis, or Persia Proper, was a country 
of moderate extent. The southern portion, bordering on the gulf 
to which it has given name, is a sandy plain, mostly inaccessible from the 
sea. Pestilential winds from the deserts of Carmania, and the intense heat 
of summer, render it almost uninhabitable. At some distance from the sea, the 
heat' becomes mitigated : the land rises, as it were, in terraces, on the surfaces 
of which rich pastures and numerous villages and herds are found. Leaving the 
abundance of fruit found in this delightful region, and advancing towards the north, 
we encounter lofty and sterile mountains, many of whose tops are perpetually 
covered with snow. This part of the country, generally incapable of tillage, and 
affording shelter to the flocks of the nomad tribes, was the cradle of the Conquerors 
of Asia. Rushing down from the sides of these rugged mountains, they swept like 
an avalanche over the lowlands ; but, though their rulers sought to attach them to 
their country, they soon became luxurious and effeminate, and paved the way for 
their own destruction. In this district was situated the ancient metropolitan city 
of Persepolis, whose ruins form one of the greatest wonders of Asia. 

(140) 



GEOGRA PIIIC A L OUTLINE. 141 

The province of Susiana adjoined Persia on the west, and separated it from 
Babylonia. The road connecting it with Persis ran over a range of steep and 
lofty mountains, inhabited by the Uxii and other warlike and lawless tribes of 
herdsmen, who so far from yielding submission to the king, made him pay tribute, 
as the price of his free passage across their heights, from Susa to Persepolis. 

Susiana was inhabited by the Cissii, a race allied to the Persians, and resem- 
bling them in manners and dress. With a climate similar to that of Persis, thei-r 
lands were more fertile, owing to the multitude of streams which watered them, 
of which the most noted were the Eulseus or Ulai of the Chaldeans, and the 
Choaspes. In its centre was situated Susa, the winter residence of the Persian 
monarchs. 

The country to the north of Persia, as far as Media, was mostly a deserted 
wild, in the mountains of which robber tribes abounded, always celebrated for their 
love of liberty. The principal of these tribes, like the Uxii, levied a tax 
upon the king when he crossed their mountain homes.* Ecbatana was the capital 
of the satrapy of Media, one of the most extensive and fertile regions of Asia. 
Media was mountainous in the northern part,t which was distinguished from the 
less wild and more fertile south, by the name of Media Minor, or Atropatene. 
The southern portion. Media Major, or Irak Ajarai, was spread into spacious 
plains, diversified by gentle eminences. 

Media abounded in valuable fruits, — grapes, oranges, and citrons, being all 
indigenous. The manufactures of this country were not surpassed by its natural 
advantages. The dress of the Medes, which became the habit of the grandees of 
the empire, was celebrated for fineness of fabric and brilliancy of colour. 

Ecbatana, the modern Hamadan, originally a fortress, became one of the first 
cities of Asia, when the Persian monarchs began at fixed periods to make it 
their abode. 

The province of Aria was an extensive steppe, partially marked by more 
fertile and cultivated districts. On one of these spots, watered by a river of the 
same name, was the city of Aria or Artacoana, now Herat ; containing one hun- 
dred thousand inhabitants, celebrated for their skill in breeding and training horses 
and camels. It was at all times a place of importance, as lying on the great 
commercial highway leading to Candahar, Cabul, and the whole of Northern 
India. This road ran by the foot of the mountains of Hyrcania, whose heights 
were occupied by lawless tribes. 

Hyrcania formed a single satrapy with Parthia,t a rude and confined district, 
one of the poorest in the empire. Such was its poverty, that, when the Persian 
monarchs had occasion to traverse it with their large suites, they marched with all 
possible speed, lest famine should overtake them. Hyrcania, though more fertile, 
was not more productive.^ The territory to the north of these districts was occu- 

* Strabo from Nearchus. t Herod, i. 110; Strabo, p. 796. 

J Strabo, 782 ; Arrian, iii. 22. 5 Arrian, iii. 26. 



142 PERSIA. 

pied by numerous nomad tribes, who sometimes entered as mercenaries into the 
armies of Persia, and who only paid tribute under the pressure of adverse circum- 
stances. 

Adjacent to Aria was Bactriana, the modern Balkh; one of the richest and 
most considerable satrapies of the Persian empire. It was situated to the north 
of India, along the course of the Oxus or Gihon, which formed its northern 
boundary, dividing it from Sogdiana. Its advantageous position soon caused it to 
become one of the best cultivated parts of Asia. The principal city, of the same 
name with the territory, was situated on a little river which runs into the 
Oxus. The city of Balkh, though it enjoys the reputation among the Asiatics of 
being the most ancient in the world, the cradle of the kings, and the mother of 
cities, is at present of inconsiderable extent, being but partially occupied by six or 
seven thousand inhabitants.* 

The northernmost of the Persian provinces, Sogdiana, lay on the northern 
side of the Oxus, and was bounded north by the river Jaxartes. Its inhabitants, 
according to Arrian, lived in cities, and seem to have devoted themselves to a 
caravan trade. Its northern part, once fertile, is now nearly desert ; while the 
remainder depends for its fertility upon artificial irrigation. Some districts, how- 
ever, by means of great labour and expense, have been brought into a state of 
fertility resembling that of a garden. One of the principal cities of Sogdiana was 
Maracanda, the modern Samarcand, the birth-place of the great Timour, and once 
famous for its commerce.! 

In the southern portion of the Persian empire, next to Persis, and separated 
from it by a river, was the province of Carmania, the modern Kerman, extending 
along the shore of the Persian Gulf, and, beyond this, to Gedrosia or Makran. 
Its inhabitants, though under a separate satrapy, resembled the Persians, in 
speech, manners, and arms. The saline qualities of the well-watered country 
peculiarly adapted it to the feeding of sheep. The modern Kerman produces the 
finest wool, and its capital, the ancient Carmania, is celebrated throughout all Asia 
for the manufacture of shawls, which, though not as soft, are as fine as those of 
Cashmere. 

The coast from Kerman to the confines of India was anciently comprised 
under the name of Gedrosia. In the time of Alexander, though the western dis- 
tricts were sterile deserts, those bordering on India were fruitful in aromatic trees 
and shrubs, from which the enterprising Phoenicians who accompanied the con- 
queror, gathered loads for their beasts of burden. J The interior contained a capital 
named Pura, which Alexander reached by a difficult and dangerous march. 

The social, political, and religious institutions of the Medes and Persians, are 
marked by the same peculiarities which distinguish all the oriental countries : viz., 
castes, despotism, and sacerdotal power. Their religion, which, according to 
Schlegel, was in the most ancient times pure theism, degenerated during the 

* Arrian, iv. 2. f Kinnier. J Arrian, vi. 22. 



POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CONDITION. 143 

Median ascendancy into a species of Sabian superstition, under the auspices of the 
Magi. The sun, moon and planets were worshipped, while the more ancient 
belief became corrupted, without being utterly lost. When the Persians under 
Cyrus had regained power, a revolution took place in religion as well as in politics, 
which was completed by Zoroaster ; " whose system," says Taylor, " is the most 
perfect devised by unassisted human reason. God, he taught, existed from all 
eternity, and was like infinity of time and space. There were, he averred, two 
principles in the universe — good and evil : the one was named Hormuzd, the 
other Ahriman. Each of these had the power of creation, but that power was 
exercised with opposite designs ; and it was from their co-action that an admixture 
of good and evil was found in every created thing. But the source of good alone, 
the great Hormuzd, was eternal, and must, therefore, ultimately prevail. With 
these speculative tenets was combined a system of castes, which are described by 
the great Persian poet, Ferdousi, who attributed their introduction to Jemshid." 

The priests or Magi, were in high favour at court, where their presence as 
sages or soothsayers, is frequently recognised in the notices of Persian affairs, 
which occur in the Sacred Scriptures. They also exercised judicial functions — 
and the laws which they administered, having religion for their basis, were con- 
sidered immutable. These were the famous " laws of the Medes and Persians" 
which bound the sovereign as well as his meanest subject. In other respects, the 
king ruled without control ^ — and the satraps, or distant governors, while paying 
their customary tribute to the central government, were equally despotic in their 
respective provinces. 

When the Persian empire was in the height of its power, its rule over con- 
quered countries and distant colonies was extremely mild — permitting the exercise 
of their own national religion and laws, and requiring only homage and tribute from 
the subject people. This system, however, did not prevent the disposition always 
manifested by remote colonies or dependencies of a central power, to become inde- 
pendent. Hence the continually recurring revolts of the provinces in Asia Minor 
and the Ionian Islands, always impatient even of the mild and liberal sway of the 
Persian satraps. 

Of the military force of Persia, the cavalry seems to have constituted the 
chief strength ; the fine horsemanship, always a characteristic of the inhabitants 
of Central Asia, peculiarly qualifying them for rapid evolutions and impetuous 
charges. The infantry was less efficient ; their want of discipline, the luxurious 
style of their dress and accoutrements, and the heterogeneous materials of which a 
Persian army was generally composed, rendering it impossible for its soldiers to stand 
before the iron armour and well-trained vigour of a Grecian or Macedonian pha- 
lanx. This is amusingly shown in Xenophon's account of the retreat of the Ten 
Thousand, which demonstrated the military weakness of Persia, and led to the 
invasion of Alexander. 

Still the Persian armies were quite competent for conquests in Asia, where 
the fall of the commander decided the fate of a battle, and the defeat of the army 



144 



PERSIA. 



insured the subjugation of the kingdom ; and where barbaric despotism rendered 
the great mass of the people indifferent to a change of rulers, which left their own 
condition of absolute subjection always the same. 

Frequent notices of the manners and customs of the ancient Persians occur 
in the Scriptures, and in the writings of Xenophon, Herodotus, and Ctesias. Ro- 
mance and fable abound in the writings of the native authorities. Of these the chief 
is the Zendavista, a collection of the Persian sacred books, in which are contained 
their early traditions and religious system. Among the more recent authorities are 
the Dabistan, an account of the ancient Persian religion, written about two centu- 
ries ago by a Mahometan traveller, and the epic poem of Ferdousi, the Schah 
Nameh, or Book of Kings, a mixture of romance and history, written about the 
middle of the tenth century. Much light has also been thrown upon ancient 
Persian history by the researches of the modern oriental scholars, Bopp, Burnouf, 
and Schlefrel. 





SECTION II, 




HE Bactrians, Medes, and Persians bore in very 
ancient times the common name of Arii, whence was 
probably derived that of Iran. They had, according 
to Rhode,* a common origin near the sources of the 
Oxiis and the mountains of India, whence they gradu- 
ally migrated towards the west until they reached 
Persis. 

When the people quitted their ancient abodes, 
they were a race of herdsmen and shepherds, possessed of no other property 
than their camels, horses, oxen, and sheep. When the famous king or chief, Jem- 
shid or Jemsheed, visited Iran, he introduced, at the command of Hormuzd, a 
knowledge of agriculture, and acted as legislator for the race. But as the land 
was not all fit for tillage, a portion of the people retained their nomadic mode of 
life. Thus distinct tribes were formed, some of which, like the Bactrians and 
Medes, acquired riches and power by agriculture and commerce, while others, 
among whom were the Persians proper, shut up in steppes and mountains, con- 
tinued true to their original habits. 

Kaiomurs, or Keioumaratz, is considered by Mahomedan writers to have been 
the first king of Persia. But the author of the Dabistan names several dynasties 



Vol.. I. 



10 



* Rhode. Ileilijre Saije. 



(145) 



146 PERSIA. 

of monarchs who reigned before him. Kaiomurs founded the Paishdadian dynasty, 
and reigned thirty years. Covered with the skin of a tiger, he descended from the 
mountains and reclaimed the people from barbarism ; teaching them the use of linen 
vestments, and more nutritive food. He also attempted to civilize the barbarians; 
but they refused his proffered kindness, and rewarded him for his good intentions 
by making war upon him. His son Siamuck was slain in the battle, but the enemy 
was finally defeated by Kaiomurs. These barbarians are termed deeves or magi- 
cians by Ferdousi. 

Kaiomurs resigned his crown to his grandson Houshung, the first constructor of 
aqueducts, and the great patron of the Persian arts. His reign lasted forty years. 
He was succeeded by his son Tahamurs, surnamed, from his great successes in war, 
Deevebun, or the Magician-Binder. He learned the art of writing and the elements 
of knowledge from some grateful deeves, whom he had liberated when taken pri- 
soners in war. 

The famous Djemschid or Jemshid, the founder of Persepolis* or Var Djem- 
schid, was his successor. His reign was prosperous. He introduced the solar 
year, divided his people into castes, and taught them the use of the cuirass, and 
the art of embroidery. The Persian accounts of his reign and that of his succes- 
sors, for some centuries, are filled w^ith exaggerations and fables ; the exploits of 
Roostem, the Persian Hercules, being mingled with those of kings and warriors 
who are recognised by Sir John Malcolm and others as historical. 

The main fact that results from a comparison of these Persian traditions with 
the Greek authorities is, that two empires followed in succession : one, coming from 
Assyria, ruled over Media and all Eastern Asia ; the other, coming from Media, 
reacted on the first, and drove the Semitic communities across the Tigris and 
Euphrates ; and, finally, to these two great revolutions, were joined frequent 
inroads on the part of the barbarous tribes coming from Caucasus, Scythia, and 
the banks of the Oxus.f 

The second period of Persian history, the " heroic and poetical," commences 
with Kai Kobad, as he is called in the Schah Nameh, who has been shown to be 
the same with the Dejoces of Herodotus. 

The son and successor of Dejoces, according to Herodotus, was Phraortes, to 
whom he ascribes the conquest of Ears or Persia Proper. The commencement of 
the reign of Kai Kaoos was most prosperous. But having attempted the conquest 
of Mazenderan, a battle followed, in which he and his army were struck with 
sudden blindness. From this, it would appear that the history of Kai Kaoos is in 
fact that of Cyaxares and Astyages. The bhndness of this king and his army is 
probably the total eclipse of the sun which took place during a battle between 
Cyaxares and the Lydians, and which had been predicted to the lonians by Thales. 

War soon after followed between the Persian monarch and the King of Hama- 

* Sir John Malcolm's History of Persia. 

tKlaproth, Tab. Hist, del Asia. Anthon's Class. Die. 



CYRUS. 147 

veran or Hamaiver. The enemy and his allies were defeated, his capital besieged, 
his beautiful daughter Sudaba or Sendabeh received by the Persian king in mar- 
riage, and himself forced to aid in the repulse of Afrasiab, who had again crossed 
the Oxus with an army. The attack upon the capital of Hamaveran appears to 
coincide with the siege of Nineveh mentioned by the Greek writers, which was 
raised by a diversion of the Scythians. 

The statement made by Herodotus respecting the marriage of Astyages with 
the daughter of the Lydian monarch, agrees also with the marriage of Kai Kaoos 
with Sudaba. The Persian monarch soon after added a fugitive niece of Afrasiab, 
King of Scythia, to the list of his wives. By her he had a son of surpassing 
beauty, named Siawush, of whom the still beautiful Sudaba became enamoured. 
After many endeavours to seduce him, her love turned to hatred, and she com- 
menced a series of intrigues which finally resulted in his being forced, in support 
of his integrity, to fly to the court of Afrasiab. He married the daughter of that 
monarch, and became governor of a part of the country ; but he soon excited the 
jealousy of a portion of the nobles, who persuaded Afrasiab to put him to death. 
His wife was spared, with her infant son, who was named Kai Khosroo, and who, 
after many perilous adventures, succeeded Kai Kaoos on the Persian throne. He 
took command of the Persian armies in a war with Afrasiab, which was ended by 
the defeat of the champions of the Scythian king, in a conflict with an equal number 
of eminent Persians. In this action, Peeranwisa, the Nestor of the Scythians, who 
had been chiefly instrumental in saving the life of Kai Khosroo, when his father 
was slain, lost his life. After reigning sixty-three years, Kai Khosroo resigned 
the crown to Lohrasp, and retired to a sacred spring, where he soon after dis- 
appeared. On their attempting to return, all who had accompanied him were 
destroyed by a violent tempest. 

There can be no difficulty in tracing, in this somewhat fabulous account 
of Khosroo, the outline? of the history given by the Greek authors of Cyrus, the 
conqueror of Lydia, Assyria, Babylonia, and Western Asia to the confines of 
Egypt. (B. C. 560 — 529.) Cambyses succeeded to his throne. The exploits of 
this prince in Egypt, Ethiopia, and the Great Desert, have already been noticed. 
Fearful of the supposed designs of his brother Smerdis, he caused him to be put to 
death, but was much alarmed on hearing that the Median priests or Magi had 
placed a pretended Smerdis on the throne. On his way home, Cambyses died of 
an accidental wound from his own sword, and in his person the Kai-anian dynasty 
became extinct. After Kai Khosroo, there is scarcely any resemblance between 
the accounts of the Persians and Greeks. 

The revolution of the pretended Smerdis was concocted within the seraglio, 
with the object of re-establishing the monarchy of the Medes.* But it was ren- 
dered abortive by the assassination of the pretended Smerdis by seven Persian 
chiefs, among whom was Darius Hystaspes, who afterwards obtained the throne. 

* Herodotus, iii. 73. 



1-18 PERSIA. 

The accession of Darius Hystaspes is fixed at 521 B. C. His reign, sup- 
posing him to be the same with the Persian Gushtasp, is extended by the Persians 
over sixty years, that of Xerxes, his son and successor, being wholly passed over; 
but Isfundear, who is supposed by Sir John Malcolm to be the same with Xerxes, 
is made the hero of his reign. Isfundear, after successfully prosecuting many 
chivalric expeditions, is made to die by the hands of Roostem in an unjust war 
waged against the old hero by command of Gushtasp. It is only from the western 
historians, however, that we learn anything of the leading events of the Persian 
history, during the reign of Darius Hystaspes and his successors. 

In the very beginning of his reign, Darius meditated an expedition against 
the Scythians, in retaliation, most probably, for the desolating inroads of that 
barbarous but warlike race, and to check their incursions for the future by a salu- 
tary chsplay of the power and resources of his empire. A rebellion, however, 
broke out in Babylon, and delayed the meditated expedition ; for two years the 
city defied the power of Darius, who only gained possession of it by a stratagem 
of Zopyrus, who mutilated himself and fled to the Babylonians as from the king's 
fury, and gained their confidence while apparently seeking revenge. He soon 
found means to betray the city to Darius, who put three thousand of the principal 
citizens to death, and prevented new insurrections by completely destroying the 
walls. He now set out for the Scythian W'ar with the whole military force of the 
empire, his army numbering seven or eight hundred thousand men. Mandrocles, a 
Samian engineer, was employed by the king to build a bridge of boats over the 
Bosporus, and was liberally rewarded when his task was successfully completed. 
The subject Greek cities on the coast of Asia furnished him with six hundred 
ships, in which most of the tyrants who ruled by his power served. This fleet 
liad been ordered to proceed to the mouth of the Danube, and to sail up the river 
to a point above the headland of the delta, w'here a bridge was to be prepared. 
Slowly passing through Thrace, the various tribes of which were quickly over- 
powered and added to his army, Darius came to the Danube, where he found his 
fleet and the bridge which had been completed. 

(B.C. 513.) When he had passed to the left bank of the river, he first 
ordered the bridge to be broken up ; but by the advice of Goes, a Lesbian, he 
placed the bridge in the keeping of the Greeks, bidding them remain sixty days, 
or until the last of sixty knots which he made in a thong, one of which was to be 
loosed daily, should be untied ; when they were at liberty to quit their post and 
return home. He then departed with his army, but the prudent Scythians retired 
before their powerful invaders, until the Persian strength was exhausted, and 
Darius commenced a retreat, harassed by the superior light-armed cavalry of his 
enemy. Meanwhile the last knot had been untied, and the Greeks who guarded 
the bridge had been informed by the Scythians of the situation of Darius, and 
urged to retire and leave him to his fate. In a council of the commanders, Mil- 
tiades, who was the master of the Thracian Chersonese, exhorted his countrymen 
to seize the opportunity now offered to recover their own independence, and to 



RHTRHAT OV DARIUS, 



149 



S?^ 



\\ .*A 




COUNCIL OF TH3 GBE: 



CHIEFS. 



inflict a deep wound on the Persian power; but Histiseus of Miletus reminded the 
council that they themselves were upheld in their governments by the power of 
Persia, the destruction of which would involve their own ruin. 

His was the better policy ; and Darius was saved. His joy and gratitude 
were proportioned to the greatness of the evil from which he had been unexpect- 
edly delivered, and he liberally rewarded the wisdom of Goes and the faithfulness of 
Histiseus. He left Megabazus with eighty thousand men in Europe to complete 
the conquest of Thrace, and in order to prevent the Greek cities on the Asiatic 
side of the Hellespont, among which was Abydos, from affording means of trans- 
port to the Scythians in case of a future invasion, he ordered them all to be burned 
down.* He rested from his expedition at Sardis. 

Megabazus soon after received and executed a command from Darius to trans- 
plant from their homes in Northern Macedonia to a habitation in Phrygia,the race 
of the Paeonians. This singular demand was occasioned by the desire of the king 
to favour a people of whom he had formed a high opinion, by placing them near 
his own residence. The lands of the Paeonians bordered on those of Amyntas, 



* Strabo, xiii. .591. 



150 PERSIA. 

King of Macedonia. To this monarch Megabazus sent seven Persian noblemen to 
demand a tribute of earth and water, as a token of submission. Their demand 
was complied with, and they were hospilably entertained; but they rewarded the 
attentions of their host by insulting his wife and daughters, an outrage that his son 
Alexander avenged by causing them and their servants to be put to death. 

Histiaeus liad made use of the liberality of Darius to collect the elements of a 
formidable power at Myrcinus, which Megabazus conceived -he might hereafter 
nse to the detriment of the empire. He represented the matter to the king, who 
requested Histiseus to leave Miletus and his new city, and come to share his table 
and his counsels at Susa. This polite request to enter a splendid prison for the 
remainder of his days was not to be refused by Histiseus, who could now only hope 
for escape by exciting a rebellion or disturbance in Asia Minor, to quell which 
would require his presence. The cities on the coasts of the north iEgean, and the 
islands of Imbros and Lemnos, had fallen into the hands of the Persian general. 

Shortly after his return from his disgraceful expedition into Thrace, Darius 
undertook an expedition into India. In this he was more successful, and con- 
quered a part of the Pendjab. The whole empire now sunk into a state of 
profound peace. 

This, however, did not long continue. Aristagoras governed Miletus for his 
brother Histieeus, who was united by political ties with the aristocratical party in 
the little island of Naxos ; that party being expelled by their opponents, now 
resorted to him for assistance. He not only offered to aid them with his own 
power, but also promised to procure subsidies from Artaphernes, the satrap of Asia 
Minor, who was his personal friend, and to whom he deeply pledged himself for 
the success of the enterprise. He promised to defray the expenses of the expedi- 
tion to Naxos out of his own funds, and to give the satrap a considerable sum for 
his own use. But, the Persian admiral and the Greek commander happening to 
quarrel, the former privately warned the Naxians of their danger ; so that, when 
the fleet attempted to surprise the city, they found the inhabitants prepared for a 
siege. Four months were thus spent before the town, when the fund allotted to 
the war was exhausted ; Aristagoras therefore reluctantly raised the siege, B.C. 501, 
and returned to Miletus, where he commenced revolving in his mind some desperate 
expedient for extricating his affairs from their embarrassed condition. 

A general insurrection of the Greeks in Ionia seemed to be the only resource 
left him ; and his resolution was fixed by the receipt of an invitation to revolt, sent 
by Histiseus. Aristagoras called a convention of the principal men of Ionia, in 
which a general revolt was resolved upon, and immediately commenced. Arista- 
goras sailed to Greece to secure the aid of the principal states. He failed at 
Sparta, but met with better success at Athens, where the assembly of the people 
were prevailed on to send a squadron of twenty ships to the help of the lonians. 
Aristagoras then sailed back to Asia, where he invited the transplanted Pseonians 
to make their way to the sea-coast. The exiles gladly embraced his offer, reached 
the sea-side in safety, and were embarked in transports for Thrace. 



FALL OF SARDIS. 



151 




SQUADRON OF G R E S K SHIPS 



Meanwhile the twenty Athenian ships and five galleys from Eretria had 
arrived at Miletus. The joint forces proceeded to Coressus in Ephesus, where 
they landed and received a strong reinforcement of lonians : thence they marched 
up Mount Tmolus, and rushed like a torrent down its northern side into the devoted 
capital of Lydia. Artaphernes threw himself into the citadel, but the city fell into 
the hands of the Greeks, who immediately began to plunder it. A soldier set fire 
to one of the houses, which were made of a sort of wicker work ; the flames 
spread rapidly, and the whole town was soon a sheet of fire. The people fled to 
the market-place, where they defended themselves with all the fury of despair. 
The Greeks, however, were obhged to abandon the city, and the allied army was 
soon again on its way over the Tmolus. But the provincial forces had already 
assembled for the protection of the capital, and were led in pursuit of the Greeks, 
whom they overtook and defeated in the Ephesian territory. The lonians dispersed 
among the cities, and the Athenians and Eretrians sailed home. (B. C. 499.) 

. Darius was filled with resentment, and immediately suspected Histiseus of 
having been concerned in the disturbances. But that artful statesman easily per- 
suaded the king of his innocence, and of his ability to suppress the insurrection, 
which could only have broken out in his absence : and he was accordingly sent 
to Ionia. All Ionia had by this time joined the league, though the Athenians 
had refused fresh succours. But Artaphernes had rapidly recovered from the con- 
fusion into which his measures had been thrown by the burning of Sardis. City 
after city fell into his hands, and Aristagoras abandoned Miletus. He fled to 
Myrcinus, and was soon after cut off" with his army by a sally made by the garri- 
son of a Thracian town which he was besieging.* 

* Herodotus, v. 126. Tliucydides. iv. 102. Thirlwall's Greece. 



152 



PERSIA. 




BnBNING OF SARTjIS. 



Soon after, Histiseus arrived at Sardis, where he was narrowly watched by 
Artaphernes, who had a better perception than Darius of the connexion between 
his designs and the Ionian revolt. Speaking one day with Histia?us, he took 
occasion to say, " Aristagoras drew the sandal on, but it was of your stitching."* 
This determined the Grecian general to escape. Passing in the night to Chios, he 
managed to obtain the assistance of the islanders in an unsuccessful attempt to 
enter Miletus. He then resorted to piracy for support, and finally fell into the 
hands of Artaphernes, who ordered him to be crucified. 

Meanwhile, the Persians had determined to end the conflict by the capture of 
Miletus, and the Ionian congress had resolved not to encounter the enemy in the 
field, but to exert their whole strength in driving his fleets from the ^Egean. 
Accordingly, they assembled a squadron of three hundred and fifty-three triremes, 
which encountered the Persian naval force of six hundred vessels at Lade. But the 
Samians were disgusted with their allies, and all but eleven captains deserted them 
in the battle. The Lesbians, with the greater part of the fleet, followed their 
example, and the remainder were overcome by superiority of numbers. This 
defeat was soon followed by the fall of Miletus. The city was stormed and pil- 
laged ; and its inhabitants were all slain or carried into captivity, B. C. 494. 



* Thirl wall's Greece. 



XERXES. 



153 



In the same manner Chios, Lesbos, and Tenedos were swept of their inhabi- 
tants. All the revolted cities were quickly subdued, and deprived of their liberty 
— and Asia Minor became a Persian province. But Athens and Eretria still 
continued to be the objects of the vengeance of Darius, who sent Mardonius to 
wreak it upon them. A large fleet was ordered to sweep the .Egean. Thasos 
submitted to this force, but a violent storm off Mount Athos, destroyed three 
hundred of the vessels, and twenty thousand men. Mardonius was to march into 
Greece, subduing on his way the Thracian and Macedonian tribes which had not 
yet submitted to Darius ; but in Macedonia his camp was surprised by the Brygian 
Thracians, he himself wounded, and many of his men killed. He then subdued 
the Brygians and returned to Asia. But this reverse failed to shake the resolution 
of Darius, who prepared a new expedition for an invasion of Greece, the particu- 
lars of which will be found in another portion of this work. Upon its failure, 
with a perseverance truly surprising, he called on every nation that owned his 
sway to contribute to a new armament, by sending the flower of its warriors, such 
as were fit to meet the Greeks in combat, as well as ships, horses, provisions 

and stores. 

During three years all Asia was absorbed in these vast preparations ; in the 
fourth, new cares demanded the attention of the king. Xerxes, his second son, 
disputed the succession with his elder brother, Artabazanes, who was born before 
Darius came to the throne, founding his claims upon his descent from Cyrus. 
Darius, swayed by his wife, Atossa, decided in favour of Xerxes, and prepared to 
march to Egypt to quell an insurrection there. But death cut short his progress, 
and Xerxes came to the throne, B. C. 485. 

The young king resolved to carry out the designs of Darius. In the second 
year of his reign, he marched into, and subdued Egypt. He then returned to 
Persia, and prepared to invade Greece. After he had brought back to Sardis the 
wretched fragment of his great host, he gave himself up to a life of dissolute 
pleasures, and was finally slain by Artabanus, a captain of the royal guards, in 
the twenty-first year of his reign, B. C. 461. 

Modern authors discover a confused account of the death of Xerxes, and the 
civil contest concerning the succession, in the Persian account of the death of 
Isfundear, at the hands of Roostem, and the murder of Roostem at the instigation 
of Bahman, or Ardisher Dirazdust. The Eastern writers deny to Xerxes the 
honour of having ever ruled the Persians, and make Artaxerxes to have ascended 
the throne immediately after the decease of his grandfather. Ardisher Dirazdust, 
or Ardisher with the long hands, is celebrated by the native writers for the wisdom 
and moderation displayed in the internal regulation of the empire, and for his 
minute acquaintance with the actual condition of the country. He employed for 
the attainment of his purposes, a system of espionage, similar to that employed by 
the modern princes of Europe. Under his reign, the Jews were treated with 
great kindness, by the express command of the king, whose favourite lady was a 
Jewess. After reigning, according to Persian writers, an hundred and twelve 
Vol. I. 20 



154 PERSIA. 

years, he died, and was succeeded by his daughter Homai, who, after a reign of 
thirty years, resigned the crown to her son, Darab I., the Darius Nothus of the 
Greeks. Western authors, however, limit the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus 
to forty years, fixing his death at 424 B. C. He was succeeded, according to 
their accounts, by Xerxes II., his only legitimate son, who, after a reign of forty- 
five days, was deposed and murdered by his natural brother, Sogdianus. The 
latter was quickly deposed by another illegitimate prince, Ochus, who usurped the 
throne under the title of Darius II., but who is usually called Nothus " the illegi- 
timate." 

In Ptolemy's canon, the short reigns of Xerxes II. and Sogdianus are included 
in that of Artaxerxes Longimanus, and Darius Nothus is made his immediate 
successor, the period of his reign being fixed at from 424 to 405 B. C. Homai 
appears to have been the Parysatis whom the Greek writers make to be the queen 
of her half brother, Darius, and to whom they attribute a very prominent part 
in the transactions of his reign. Her son Arcaces, is said to have ascended the 
throne under the title of Artaxerxes, to which the Greeks added the surname of 
Mnemon, on account of his extraordinary memory. 

The utmost obscurity hangs over the account given by the Persians of this 
period of their history. From the Greek historians, however, we learn that 
though according to the custom of the monarchy, Artaxerxes was the legitimate 
heir apparent, Cyrus was the first son born to Darius after his accession to the 
throne, and he was encouraged to hope that as Xerxes had been preferred to his 
elder brother, he also might be chosen to succeed his father instead of Arta- 
xerxes. Meanwhile, he was invested with the government of the western pro- 
vinces, an appointment which he from the first considered as a step to the throne. 
Perceiving that, should he be disappointed in his first expectations, the co-operation 
of the Greeks might still enable him to seize the throne, he embraced the side of 
Sparta in the Peloponnesian war. At his father's death he found that Artaxerxes 
had been chosen to succeed to the throne, and when he had come to Pasargadse to 
witness his brother's coronation, he narrowly escaped death on a charge of con- 
spiracy. He returned to his government of Asia Minor, in the full determination 
to revolt at the first opportunity. Having finally, under various pretexts, collected 
an army of eleven thousand heavy infantry and two thousand targeteers, natives 
of Greece, and one hundred thousand barbarians, he marched through the whole 
extent of Asia Minor into the Babylonian plains, where, at Cunaxa, he encountered 
the army of his brother, numbering nine hundred thousand men. In the battle 
which ensued, the Greeks soon routed the enemy opposed to them, but pursued 
them too far, and Cyrus was compelled to avoid being surrounded by the rest of 
the king's army, to attack the centre of the enemy, where the king commanded. 
He routed the body guard, but was slain in an imprudent personal attack upon 
the king liimself. The celebrated retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks concerned 
in this engagement, comes under our notice in the history of their country. 

After terminating this rebellion, Artaxerxes was next engaged in a war with 



ocuus. 



155 




the Egyptians, who had revolted and successfully resisted all his efforts to reduce 
them to subjection. An expedition led by the king in person against the Cadusii 
in Upper Asia, was equally unsuccessful. After having put to death Darius, his 
eldest son, for a conspiracy, and losing two other sons by the arts of Ochgs, 
Artaxerxes died, at the age of ninety-four years. Ochus succeeded him, and, 
after murdering all his brothers, marched into Egypt, which, with Cyprus and 
PhcEnicia, by the talents of Bagoas, his prime minister, an Egyptian by birth, he 
reduced to subjection. Once master of the country, he gave himself up to cruelty 
of all kinds, destroyed the temples, insulted the Egyptian deities, and caused the 
sacred Apis to be killed and its flesh served up for a repast. 

On the return of Ochus to Persia, Bagoas, who remembered his tyranny in 
Egypt, caused him to be murdered, and placed his youngest son Arses on the 
throne, after assassinating the rest. Arses and his children experienced the fate 
of Ochus after three years, and Bagoas gave the sceptre into the hands of Darius 



1;36 



PERSIA. 



Codomannus, But being soon after detected in an attempt to poison the king, he 
was himself put to death. 

The reign of Darius Codomannus was, however, soon after cut short by the 
invasion of Alexander the Great, whose career of victory in Persia properly falls 
under the history of Greece. The traditions which the Eastern writers have pre- 
served of the Macedonian hero, are very imperfect ; and upon a few historical facts 
they have reared a superstructure of the most extravagant fable. They agree, how- 
ever, with the Greek writers in most of the leading facts : such as the invasion of 
Persia, the defeat ajid subsequent death of Darius, the generosity of the conqueror, 
displayed towards the fallen monarch's family, and the strong impression which 
his noble and humane conduct made upon his dying enemy. They allude, also, 
to the alliance which Alexander established with Taxilis or Omphis, to his battle 
with Porus, and his expedition against the Scythians; but the circumstances in 
which these events are disguised are for the most part fabulous. His great name, 
says Sir John Malcolm, in his History of Persia, has been considered sufficient to 
obtain credit for every story that imagination could invent ; but this exaggeration 
is almost all praise. The Secunder of the Persian page is a model of every virtue 
and of every great quality that can elevate a human being above his species ; while 
his power and magnificence are always represented as far beyond what has ever 
been attained by any other monarch in the world. 




Ar, ■PXA.NDER VISIl'ING THE FATviILT OF nABIIJS. 




CHAPTER VIII. 

C A 11 Til AGE. 



fijBiejilTaiiP'liUffl 



SECTION I. 



f iai 



lE^ itiomi. 



HE city of Carthage, so celebrated in ancient history as 
the formidable enemy and enterprising rival of the Ro- 
man people, was founded by a colony from Tyre. It 
was situated on a peninsula in the Gulf of Tunis, having 
the cities of Utica and Tunis both visible from its walls. 
The site of the city was admirably adapted to the pur- 
suit of commerce, possessing a safe and exclusive harbour 
upon the southern side of the peninsula, and defended 
upon the land side by triple walls of great strength, and 
by the citadel Byrsa. The Byrsa, or principal fortress, 
was built upon a hill, upon the top of which was a tem- 
ple of iEsculapius. To the west of this was the town, 
extending along the triple wall, and adorned with exten- 
sive gardens, public buildings, and the temples of Saturn, Ceres, and Jupiter. 

The territory of Carthage extended along the coast eastwardly as far as the 
tower of Euphranta, on the eastern coast of the Syrtis Major, or Gulf of Sidra ; 
and to the Pillars of Hercules on the west. Its breadth was about one hundred 
and fifty miles. The coast was studded with small commercial towns, the inha- 
bitants of which carried on a lucrative trade with the parent city, and with the 
neighbouring shores of Italy and Greece. The foreign possessions of Carthage 
were numerous and important, comprising Sardinia, Malta, Corsica, the Balearic 
Isles, the southern part of Sicily and Spain, Madeira, the Fortunate Islands in the 

(ir)7) 




158 CARTHAGE. 

Atlantic, and several settlements on the western coast of Africa. The govern- 
ment of Carthage, like that of its parent state, Tyre, was originally a monarchy ; 
but it soon assumed a republican form, in which aristocracy was a prevaiHng 
element, although the power of the people was not wholly excluded. There were 
two kings or magistrates, called sutletes, nominated by the senate and confirmed 
by the general assembly of the people. The senate, which was composed of the 
richest and most influential citizens, consisted of two branches — a house of assem- 
bly, or synedrium, and a council called gerusia, chosen from the synedrium and 
exercising judicial functions,* The civil authority was always kept separate from 
the military, which was vested in generals elected by the people. 

The religion of Carthage was founded upon, and partook of the sanguinary 
character of that of the parent country, PhcEnicia. Their superior divinities were 
the same as those of the mother country, though they were not averse to the 
introduction of foreign gods. They are known to have worshipped Ceres, and to 
have sent ambassadors to the oracle at Delphi. 

The revenues of the state were derived from the tribute levied upon subject 
nations, which was paid in money by the nations inhabiting the coasts of the 
Mediterranean, and in kind by the foreign colonies, and from the tax upon imports 
both in Carthage and the colonies — and from the mines belonging to the state, 
the most productive of which were situated in Spain, near Carthago Nova, the 
modern Carthagena. The precious metals thus obtained, formed the principal 
circulating medium ; but in addition to these, there was current in Carthage a 
species of banking money, consisting of pieces of compound metal sewed up in a 
leather covering, and marked with a government seal, which declared their 
nominal value. 

The foreign commerce of Carthage was very extensive, embracing almost 
every part of the then known world. The agricultural and mineral products of 
the country formed its principal exports — which were exchanged for almost every 
variety of commodity known to commerce. 

The naval forces of Carthage were large and efficient — the possession of so 
many important colonies, and the extent of her commercial operations rendering 
the maintenance of a powerful navy indispensable, even in time of peace. Two 
hundred and twenty ships of war were usually kept in ordinary in the dock at 
Carthage, besides the force constantly in commission for the defence of the interests 
of the state abroad. The Carthaginians were the most skilful naval architects of 
the age. Their models were adopted by other nations, especially the Romans. 
In their early wars, their ships were only triremes ; but they afterwards constructed 
those of much larger size. In the first Punic war, some of their vessels carried 
nearly five hundred men, and contained five banks of oars. Images of the tutelary 
deities of navigation were placed upon the prows of the vessels, which were 
considered as under their special protection. In vessels of war, however, the 

* Taylor. 



MILITARY FORcr;, 



Kid 



images were usually fixed in the hinder part of the ship, and their place on the 
prow was supplied by rostra, or beaks, which were made of brass and intended to 
injure the hostile vessels. The oarsmen were slaves, purchased for the purpose 
by the government, and formed a permanent organization. The military and 
naval commanders were generally distinct from and independent of each other — 
the latter receiving their orders directly from the senate or ruling body. 

The armies of Carthage were also numerous. They consisted principally of 
mercenaries drawn from the different nations subject to the state, and were com- 
manded by generals chosen from the most distinguished families of the city. When 
a king was chosen to conduct a war, his military powers expired at the close of the 
campaign, and previously to a new one a fresh nomination was necessary. There 
are also instances of a general being elected one of the kings or suffetes, while he 
was engaged in conducting a war.* The population of Carthage being principally 
employed in commercial pursuits, were precluded from engaging themselves in 
foreign conquests, and were therefore obliged to rely upon the services of hired 
troops to fight the battles of the state. In times of public danger, however, they 
could raise an army of citizens alone, of forty thousand men. In addition to these, 
there was the " sacred legion," composed of the noblest families of the city, which 
numbered twenty-five hundred men. 

* Taylor. 




^^^H OF HANN\B^^ 




BURNING OF CARTHAGE. 



SECTION II. 

|i.J ! 1 © -J g ® f C a ff 1 1) a g f , 

HE exact date of the foundation of Carthage is in- 
volved in great obscurity. It is generally considered 
as having been founded by a colony of Tyrians, about 
the year 878 B.C. Dido, after her flight from Tyre, 
having recruited her forces at Cyprus, by the addition of 
the priest of Jupiter and his family, and eighty Cyprian 
maidens, sailed to Africa, and commenced the building 
of Carthage. The native tribes whose territories ad- 
^ joined those of Carthage first fell victims to her power ; 
^^^ while commercial establishments along the coast extended 
\\'''^_^ her trade and increased her wealth. The Phoenician 
"^Sk\ \ ^ colonies of Utica and Leptis joined with Carthage in a 
"^ ' '^w|^\'^ treaty of alhance, and formed a federal compact, at the 

head of which was placed the rising city. National jealousy soon created diffi- 

(160) 




SIKGE OF AC! HI CENTUM. l(il 

culties, however, between Cartlinge uud the 'Greek colonists at Cyrene, which 
were not settled without much bloodshed. 

After the conclusion of this conflict, Carthage rose in jwwer with such rapidity, 
that when, in the year 509 B.C., the Carthaginians concluded a commercial treaty 
with Rome, they were exclusive masters of Sardinia, the northern coast of Africa, 
the Balearic Isles, and part of Sicily and Spain. 

The feai' of Grecian bravery with which a defeat from the Phocffians, who had 
attempted to settle in Corsica, had ins])ired the Carthaginians, was augmented by 
the increasing prosperity of the Greek colonies in Italy and Sicily. They there- 
fore eagerly seized the opportunity of the war between Xerxes and the Hellenians, 
to attack these colonies. An immense fleet was fitted out, consisting of two thou- 
sand ships of war, and three thousand transports, conveying three hundred thou- 
sand land soldiers. This armament was commanded by llamilcar, the head of the 
family of Mago. It consisted principally of the undisciplined cavalry drawn from 
the African dependencies of Carthage. 

The forces landed at Panormus (the modern Palermo) and marched immedi- 
ately upon Himera. The garrison of that city, though few in number, and unpro- 
vided for a siege, made a brave resistance. The governor, however, being unable 
to hold out during a protracted siege, sent to Gelon, King of Syracuse, for 
succour. Gelon marched immediately with all the forces he could raise, and by a 
successful stratagem defeated the Carthaginians and slew their general on the same 
day that Grecian valour triumphed over the Persian fleet at Artimisium, and the 
Persian hosts at Thermopylae. The remnant of the Carthaginian forces rallied 
under Gisgon, the son of Hamilcar, but were obliged to surrender at discretion. 
The terms of peace were dictated by Gelon, who generously made them favour- 
able to his enemies. Gisgon was banished by his countrymen for having obeyed 
the dictates of necessity in the surrender of his army. 

After the lapse of seventy years, the Athenians invaded Sicily, and laid siege 
to Syracuse. But they were totally defeated, B. C, 416, and their allies punished 
by Syracuse. Carthage interfered in behalf of the op})ressed towns, and sent an 
army into Sicily, under Hannibal, son of Gisgon. He attacked and took Selinun- 
tum and Himera, and put the inhabitants to death. The Sicilians sued for a truce, 
which was concluded upon the most favourable terms for Carthage. The result 
so elated the conquerors, that they determined to complete the subjugation of the 
island. Their armies were commanded by Hannibal and Inules, who laid siege to 
Agrigentum, a city second only to Syracuse. The siege lasted eight months, dur- 
ing which time the assailants suffered from pestilence and the besieged from famine. 
After having endured the greatest hardships, the garrison cut their way through 
the enemy, and retreated to Gela, leaving the aged and infirm to the mercy of tlie 
enemy; who cruelly put them all to death. Gela was next overcome; and the 
Syracusan king, Rionysius I., the commander of the Sicilians, once more sued for 
peace. This was granted, but was of short duration. The Sicilians, taking 
advantage of the withdrawal of the Carthaginian army, massacred the merchants 
Vol. I. 21 



1G2 



CA IITH AGE. 





STRACtJSE. 



of that nation who had settled among them ; and Dionysius made himself master of 
several of the strongest garrisons. The Carthaginians now determined to be 
revenged on their enemies, and Himilco invaded Sicily with an overwhelming 
force. After several minor conquests, he advanced against Syracuse, and com- 
menced the siege. His first operations were entirely successful ; but a dreadful 
plague broke out in the camp, and Dionysius sallied forth with his whole force 
and commenced an indiscriminate slaughter. Himilco surrendered at discretion, 
and committed suicide, to avoid the anger of his countrymen. The lives of tlie 
Carthaginians were spared, but the allies were put to the sword. The African 
tribes, enraged at the treatment of their brethren, rose in arms and laid siege to 
Carthage. Dissensions arising among them, however, they disbanded without 
effecting anything. The Carthaginians once more invaded Sicily, under the com- 
mand of Mago, but were again defeated, and their leader slain. The son of Mago, 
being reinforced from Africa, again met the Syracusans, and was this time victori- 
ous. Both parties being now weary of the war, a peace was concluded, on terms 
honourable to both. 

The peace was followed by a destructive plague, which was succeeded by 
rebellions hi the African provinces, Sicily, and Sardinia. But by a vigorous course 
of policy, these insurrections were quelled, and the state began to return to its 



SIEGE OF SYRACUSE. 163 

former prosperity. Meanwhile, Dionysius I., the principal champion of the 
SiciHans, died, and with him expired the hopes of his countrymen. His son, 
Dionysius II., was an efiemhiate and prolligate prince, and unable to defend his 
country's interests. An immense army was raised by the Carthaginians, under 
the command of Mago, and sent against Syracuse. The city was almost unde- 
fended, Dionysius being shut up in the citadel with all his forces. The inhabitants 
sought the aid of the Corinthians, and the latter, under Timoleon, marched to their 
assistance. He immediately took possession of the citadel, and, having armed the 
citizens, compelled the Leontines, who had control of the city, to place their forces 
at his disposal. He then addressed letters to the Greek mercenaries in the Car- 
thaginian army, hoping to persuade them not to bear arms against their country- 
men. Although these efforts were unsuccessful, Mago, distrustful of his mercenary 
troops, returned home without achieving any important result. 

The Carthaginians were roused to indignation at this event. Mago com- 
mitted suicide to avoid their anger, and the people refused him the rites of 
sepulture. Hannibal and Hamilcar were sent into Sicily, at the head of a new 
army of seventy thousand men, and a fleet of two hundred vessels of war, and a 
thousand transports. Timoleon alone had courage to meet the invaders, and with 
his little army, consisting of barely seven thousand men, attacked them near the 
river Crimisus. They were taken by surprise, and after a short contest totally 
routed, with the loss of ten thousand slain, of whom three thousand were citizens 
of Carthage. The remnant of the army refused again to encounter their victorious 
foes; who continued to capture town after town, until the Carthaginians were 
forced to accept peace upon terms dictated by their enemies. 

Durino- these transactions, internal dissensions threatened to destroy the 
liberties of Carthage. Hanno, one of the leading citizens, having been frustrated 
in a plot laid to poison the principal senators, appeared with his slaves, twenty 
thousand in number, in open insurrection. He invited the native tribes to his 
standard — but failing to bring them into the field, and unable to raise fresh forces, 
he was surrounded, made prisoner, and put to death with all his family. The 
Carthaginians now again turned their attention to the affairs of Sicily. Having, 
by their influence, enabled an aspiring demagogue, named Agathocles, to acquire 
the mastery of Syracuse, they found themselves expelled from the island as soon as 
their services were no longer needed. The senate sent Hamilcar against him, 
and Agathocles was defeated, and obliged to retreat behind the walls of Syracuse. 
Hamilcar invested the city, and everything seemed to promise success, when 
Ao-athocles turned the tide of fortune by an extraordinary measure. Suddenly 
equipping a fleet, he manned it with liberated slaves, and set sail, to carry the war 
into Carthage itself Eluding the blockading squadron, he arrived in Africa, 
wholly unexpected by the inhabitants. Burning his fleet, to inspire his men with 
resolution by cutting off their means of retreat, he marched upon Tunis, which, 
with several other towns, fell into his hands without any resistance. Hanno and 
Bomilcar marched against him with greatly supeiior forces — but they were 



IG4 CARTHAGE. 

principally composed of iin(lis(ipline(] mercenaries. Agathocles met and defeated 
them. 11 anno fell in the commencement of the battle, and Bomilcar made no 
attempt to retrieve his rviined fortunes. 

Agathocles found in the Carthaginian camp large quantities of fetters, -which 
had been prepared for himself and his army. During these events vessels arrived 
from Tyre, bearing the aged and infirm, who had been sent away when Alexander 
commenced the siege of that city. Notwithstanding the distress of the Carthagi- 
nians, tliey were kindly received and protected. Hamilcar, hearing of the losses 
of his countrymen at home, resolved to strike a last blow at the Syracusans, 
before returning to their home. He circulated a report of the defeat and death 
of Agathocles, in order to dispirit the Syracusans ; but unfortunately, before the 
attack was commenced, a Sicilian vessel arrived from Africa, bearing intelligence 
of Agathocles's victory. Despairing of success, Hamilcar abandoned the siege, and 
sent home five thousand of his best troops. Having reinforced his army with 
mercenaries, he marched against the Syracusans ; but was surprised, defeated, 
and slain. 

Agathocles w^as joined by Ophelias, king of Cyrene ; but fearful of his power, 
he removed him by poison. Having established his authority in Africa, he returned 
to Sicily. During his absence, the army under the command of his son lost its 
discipline. The Greek allies, enraged at the death of Ophelias, withheld their 
contingents, and the African tribes returned to their ancient allegiance. Returning 
lo remedy these disorders, he found his elforts vain; and, abandoning his son and 
his army to the mercy of his enemies, he returned to Sicily, where -he shortly 
afterwards died. 

After the death of Agathocles, the Carthaginians again acquired a predomi- 
nating influence in Sicily. The Greek colonies, alarmed at their power, asked the 
aid of Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, and son-in-law to Agathocles. He attacked the 
Carthaginians in Sicily, and made himself master of all their towns, except Lily- 
bffium. He soon, however, returned to Italy, where he was engaged in defending 
the colonies of Magna Grfficia against the Romans (B. C. 277) ; and his conquests, 
notwithstanding the exertions of Hiero, king of Syracuse, were lost almost as rapidly 
as they had been acquired. Shortly after the death of Agathocles, a part of the 
mercenaries who had constituted his army, captured Messina, and put the inhabi- 
tants to death. Assisted by them, a Roman legion committed the same atrocities 
at Rhegium, on the opposite side of the strait. The Roman government immedi- 
ately sent an army against its insubordinate troops, and put them to the sword. 
Hiero marched against the Mamertines, who had taken Messina, and defeated 
them in a pitched battle (B. C. 264). A portion of them sought the aid of the 
Carthaginians, who took possession of the citadel, and the remainder threw them- 
selves upon the protection of the Romans. 

An army of the latter, under Appius Claudius, attacked and captured Messina, 
and defeated an allied army of Syracusans and Carthaginians, who attempted its 
recovery. Thus commenced the first Punic war, in which Carthage lost Sicily, 



CONQUEST OF SPAIN. 



165 




APPIUS CLAUDIUS DEFEAT IKG THS OARTHAGIiilANS. 



ruined her finances, crippled her commerce, and commenced that downward course 
which resulted in her total destruction. The mercenaries, who were transported 
to Africa, in accordance with the terras of the treaty, mutinied upon being disap- 
pointed in receiving their pay, and ravaged the country to the very gates of 
Carthage, Hanno, one of the suffetes, was sent against them, but could effect 
nothing. Hamilcar Barca, his rival, taking the command, retrieved the fortunes of 
the state, and suppressed the insurrection ; but not until the rebels had committed 
great ravages. The Romans took possession of Sardinia, in violation of the treaty 
of peace ; but the Carthaginians were unable to redress the injury. 

Hamilcar Barca now conceived a scheme for repairing the losses of his 
country, by the conquest of Spain. Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, then only nine 
years of age, asked permission to accompany him in the invasion ; but before 
acceding to his request, his father led him to the altar, and obliged him to swear 
eternal hatred to Rome. In consequence of the difhculties attending the trans- 
portation of elephants and horses by sea, Hamilcar travelled by land as far as the 
Strait of Gibraltar. The Carthaginians learned the use of elephants from Pyrrhus, 
who employed them in the wars in Sicily and Italy. They afterwards entirely 
superseded the war-chariots formerly in use among the Carthaginians. 

Hamilcar commanded the army in Spain for nine years, and extended his 
dominion over almost the whole country. His power and wealth were employed 
in strengthening the influence of his family — relying principally upon the demo- 
cracy for support against Hanno, who was the leader of the nobility. Hasdrubal, 
his son-in-law, succeeded him in the government of Spain. He founded a 
splendid city, called New Carthage, in the vicinity of which were situated the 



^ 



166 CARTHAGE. 

most valuable silver mines. He conciliated the affections of the Spaniards, and 
married the daughter of one of their princes. The Romans, jealous of his power, 
compelled him to sign a treaty binding himself not to pass the river Iberus, or 
attack the Saguntine territory. After the assassination of Hasdrubal, Hannibal 
was appointed to succeed him, though he had scarcely attained his majority. 
(B.C. 221.) 

After several successes over the Spaniards, Hannibal boldly attacked Sagun- 
tum (B.C. 219), and commenced the second Punic war. During this war (the 
detads of which, with the preceding one, will be found in the history of Rome), the 
navy, the source of the power and prosperity of Carthage, was allowed to decline. 
Party dissensions also distracted the state, and the Barcine family gained a despotic 
influence, which they maintained by appeals to the passions of the people. Car- 
thage lost all her foreign possessions, and her fleet fell into the power of Rome ; 
and the loss of the battle of Zama, in which Hannibal was defeated by Scipio 
Africanus, filled up the measure of her national misfortunes. Another rival power 
arose in Africa, by the union of the Romans with Masinissa, King of Numidia ; 
who extended his power over the western colonies of Carthage. 

Hannibal still remained at the head of affairs in Carthage, and exerted himself 
to reform the abuses that had grown up in the administration. But the nobles, 
hostile to these reforms, joined with the old enemies of his family, and forced 
him to fly from the country. He finally committed suicide, to escape falling into 
the hands of the Romans, W'hose hatred refused to allow him an asylum. 

The Carthaginians soon felt the want of their leader ; Masinissa, emboldened 
by the support which he received from the Romans, made frequent incursions into 
their territories. Complaints were mutually made before the Roman senate 
(B.C. 162) ; but the Carthaginians obtained no redress. Political divisions conti- 
nued to harass and weaken the state ; the democracy, ascribing to the influence 
of the nobles the low condition of the republic, exiled forty of the leading senators, 
exacting an oath that they should never return. Masinissa interceded in their 
behalf, but they insulted his sons, who were sent to treat with them. This caused 
another contest, in which the Carthaginians were still further reduced, and obliged 
to submit to the most onerous conditions. 

The Romans finally determined to destroy Carthage ; but its inhabitants obey- 
ing every command, furnished no pretext for an attack. They gave up their navy 
and munitions of war; and surrendered three hundred of the sons of the nobility as 
hostages; but when they were ordered to desert their city, driven to desperation, 
they determined to die amid its ruins. The war which followed was short, but 
bloody. Deprived of their arms, and driven to every expedient to remedy the 
deficiency, the Carthaginians fought with the desperate courage of men who fore- 
saw their certain doom, and resolved to sell their lives dearly. In the year 146 
B.C. the city was taken by storm, and its inhabitants put to the sword. Its palaces, 
temples, and magnificent buildings were razed to the ground, and nothing but a mass 
of desolate ruins remained to tell of its ancient splendour. 







CHAPTER IX. 

SECTION I. 

ffiejjgi'Eipljilfal ®E}Hn« uxi% Social anli 



P lUi I i It i c a I 



e R lU 1 ii J !& \\ 




E coine next to the most celebrated country of antiquity, Greece. 
Its territory was of very inconsiderable extent, being scarcely 
ecjuu] in size to the half of England. It is comprehended between 
o()^ and 41° of north latitude, and is surrounded on all sides by 
the sea, except on the north, where it borders on Epirus and 
I Macedonia. Thessaly, its most northern province, is an exten- 

(167) 



168 



GREECE. 



sive and fertile vale, completely surroiiiKled by mountains. On the north is Olym- 
pus, the residence of the gods; on the east is Ossa, between which and Olympus 
flows the Peneus or Salampria, into the vale of Tempe. On the south is ffita, 
where Hercules raised the pile on which he was consumed. At the foot of (Eta 
is the famous pass of Thermopyla:. On the west of Thessaly is Mount Pindus. 







C OKI NT H. 



The tract extending from the borders of Thessaly and Epirus to the Corin- 
thian isthmus, contains several provinces: viz., Acarnania, on the east frontier of 
which runs the river Achelous ; J^]tolia, defended by almost impassable mountains 
on every side but the south, which was a sea-coast ; the mountainous country of 
Doris ; the small but fertile provinces of Phocis and Locris ; and Bceotia, a well- 
watered vale, bounded except on the north-east by the mountains Parnassus, Heli- 
con, Cithseron, and Parnes. South of Boeotia is the rocky and barren province of 
Attica, producing figs, olives, and various other kinds of fruits; but little grain or 
pasturage. 

The isthmus of Corinth, a narrow mountainous ridge, connects the main land of 
Greece with the Peloponnesus, the modern Morca. The district of Corinth is 
chiefly remarkable for its far-famed capital, destroyed by Mummius, the Roman 
general, B.C. 14-3, and rebuilt by C»sar. It was itself a little island, but had 



GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE. 169 

two ports — Lechaeum, on the Corinthian, and Cenchreea, on the Saronic Gulf, and a 
citadel on a lofty hill called Acrocorinthus. 

The Peloponnesus, so called from Pelops, the son of Tantalus, who reigned 
there, was divided into several provinces. The northernmost of these is Achaia, 
running from Corinth to Dyme, along the northern coast, and bounded on its inland 
frontier by a ridge of mountains ; south-east of Achaia is Argolis, a remarkably 
fruitful valley, included between two mountainous branches, stretching from Cyl- 
lene, the most northern of the Arcadian summits, and terminating, one in the Gulf 
of Argos, the other at the promontory of Scylla ; south-west of Achaia is Elis or 
Eleia, less mountainous than the other Peloponnesian provinces, and watered by 
the Peneus and the Alpheus ; south of Achaia is the central state of Arcadia, 
traversed by the Aroanian and Moenalian Mountains ; south of Arcadia and Elis is 
Messenia, the most level district in the peninsula, the best adapted for tillage, and 
the most fruitful in general produce. The south-eastern province of Peloponnesus 
is Laconia, traversed by two branches of the Taygetus and Zarex ranges of 
mountains, between which runs the river Eurotas, watering several very fertile 
but not extensive vales. 




M O CT N T T A T G S T U S . 



Though the general aspect of Greece is rugged, its climate is highly propi- 
tious, the surrounding seas preserving both the heat of summer and the cold of 
winter in an equable state of temperature. Some of its mountains contain the 
finest marble, and valuable metals. Corn, wine, and oil are produced in its cen- 
tral plains, the richest pasturage is found in the valleys, excellent timber covers 
the tops of its mountains, and its regular, indented coast, abounds with commodi- 
ous ports and harbours. From the mildness of the climate, the number of small 
streams, and the variety in the surface and quality of the soil, it has considerable 
diversity of produce. It has been remarked as a peculiar feature in the topography 
of the ancient cities of Greece, that every metropolis possessed its citadel and its 
Vol. I. 22 



170 GREECE, 

plain ; the former as a place of refuge in war, the latter as a source of agriculture 
in peace. 

Among the remarkable towns of Greece w^e may notice, Gomphi, Larissa, 
Phera?, and Pharsalus, in Thessaly; Cytinium, and three other small cities, in Doris; 
Amphissa, and CEanthe, in Locris ; Delphi, the centre of Greece ; Orissa, and Anticyra, 
in Phocis ; Thebes, Orchomenus, Plateea, and Chseronea, in Boeotia ; Athens with its 
harbour Piraeus, Phalerum and Munychia, Marathon, Phyla, and Decelea, in Attica ; 
Megara and its port Nissea, in Megara ; Corinth, Sicyon, Phlius, ^Egium, Patrse, 
and Pellene, in Achaia; Argos, Mycense, and others, in Argolis ; Elis, Olympia, and 
Pisa, in Elis ; Megalopohs, Tegea, Mantinea, and Pallantium, in Arcadia ; Messene 
and Pylos, in Messenia; and Sparta, Gythium, Sellasia, and Amyclse, in Laconia. 

Besides the provinces already named, there were two others, Epirus and Mace- 
donia, whose inhabitants, though somewhat allied to each other and to the Greeks, 
were scarcely considered Hellenic. Epirus, west of Thessaly, and next to it, was 
the largest, though one of the least cultivated of the Grecian states. It was 
divided into two provinces: Molossia, of which Ambracia was the capital; and Thes- 
protia, containing the port of Buthrotum, and Dodona, celebrated for its oracles, 
consecrated to Jupiter. On its coast was the Acroceraunian Cape, whose rocks 
extended far to sea, and were so dangerous to mariners that they received the epi- 
thet " infamous." The wildness of the country and the rudeness of the inhabitants 
were such that the Greeks chose the names of their rivers, Acheron and Cocytus, 
as fit to bestow upon those belonging to the infernal regions. Its oxen and its 
horses were unrivalled, and the Molossian dogs are still celebrated by travellers 
for their ferocity. 

Macedonia Proper, was a tract of land bounded by Thessaly and Epirus on 
the south, Thracia on the east, Illyricum on the west, and Dardania and Moesia 
on the north. Demosthenes always discriminates, in very pointed terms, between 
the Macedonian king, Philip, and the Athenians ; but this haughtiness of the 
southern Greeks was somewhat subdued by the splendid victories of Philip and his 
conquering son. 

The islands of Thasos, Samothrace, and Imbrus, with a few others, occupied 
the north of the yEgean Sea, and were known as the Thracian Islands. Thasos 
produced wine, marble, and gold. Its inhabitants were daring navigators, and at 
one time bravely contended with Athens for the mastery of the sea. Samothrace 
was noted as the seat of the Cabrii, deities whose worship was introduced by Darda- 
nus into Troy. Opposite Imbrus, on the Asiatic coast, at the entrance of the Hel- 
lespont, was the island of Tenedos, remarkable for its temple dedicated to Apollo, 
imder the name of Smintheus. This name is said to have been derived from the 
Phrygian term Sminthse, which signifies mice; because, when a large number of these 
animals infested the island, they were destroyed by Apollo. Tenedos w^as usually 
esteemed the key of the Hellespont, and when vessels were prevented by northerly 
winds from entering that strait, they found shelter in its excellent harbour. South- 
west of Tenedos was Lemnos, on which Vulcan fell when thrown from heaven by 



RHODES. 



171 




(NAVA.RINO.) 



Jove. West of Lemnos was Halonessus, which was once preserved hy the valour 
of its women, who, after all the men were slain, defeated an army of invaders. To 
the south were Sciathus, Scopelos, and Scyros, where Achilles was concealed by 
Thetis. South of Tenedos, and opposite Ephesus, was Lesbos, the birth-place of 
many celebrated writers. South of it was Chios, whose wines were deemed the 
best in the ancient world. It also contained quarries of beautiful marble. 

The largest island in the ^gean Sea was Euboea, separated from the Boeotian 
coast by a narrow strait, which is now choked up. Its chief towns were Chalcis, 
Eretria, and Oreus. Salamis and .Egina were on the Saronic Gulf. The latter was 
celebrated for the valour of her sailors, to whom the prize of bravery was assigned at 
the ever memorable naval battle of Salamis. South-east of Eubcea were the 
Cyclades, forming a circle round the island of Delos. Ortygia, or Delos, is cele- 
brated in mythology as the birth-place of Apollo and Diana. Of the other islands 
of this group, Paros was celebrated for its white marble, Naxos was sacred to 
Bacchus, and los was the burial-place of Homer. The Sporades were east of the 
Cyclades, and close along the Asiatic coast. Samos, sacred to Juno, and the 
birth-place of Pythagoras, was the chief of them. Its city of the same name was 
strongly fortified and improved by art. Its wine and earthenware were well 
known. On one of the other islands, Patmos, St. John wrote the Revelations, and 
on Cos, Hippocrates was born, and the natives of the island show a venerable 
plane tree, under whose branches they affirm the celebrated physician lectured to 
his pupils and gave advice to his patients. " In this group also was Rhodes, on 



172 



GREECE. 



which stood one of the most beautiful and flourishing commercial cities of anti- 
([uity. It was celebrated for its Colossus, which stood at the entrance of the har- 
bour ; a huge statue of brass, erected in honour of the sun, and having a foot on 
each of the opposite sides of the harbour. It was so lofty that the largest vessels 
could pass between its legs without striking their topsails. It was thrown down 
by an earthquake, and subsequently broken up by the Saracens, for the sake of its 
brass. Crete (Candia), the largest of the Grecian islands, except Euboea, lies at 
the entrance of the iEgean Sea. In ancient times it was celebrated for its hun- 
dred cities, of which the principal were Gnossus, Cydonia, and Gortyna. Many 
of the gods of Greece were said to have been born there. Its chief mountain, Ida, 
was fixed as the birth-place of Jupiter himself. But it had a superior merit to any 
which mythology has given it, that of giving to Greece its most useful institutions. 
While Hellas was frequently devastated by hostile incursions, the Cretans were at 
peace in their island home,within a short sail of the cradle of civilization, Egypt. 
They were, in consequence, early distinguished for their wise institutions. From 
the code of the elder Minos, Lycurgus drew the chief sources of his legislation, 
and the cultivation of the useful arts received a first great stimulus from the mecha- 
nical inventions of Dsedalus. In the early ages of Grecian history Crete acted a 
prominent part ; but she afterwards degenerated, and her inhabitants served as mer- 
cenaries to the Athenians in the Peloponnesian wars. 

North-east of Crete is Cyprus, the favourite island of Venus, in which, as in 
Rhodes, everything great or glorious moulders in the grave. It contained, besides 
the metropolis Citium, the city of Salamis, founded by Teucer, the brother of Ajax 
Telamon, after the Trojan war. Corey ra (Corfu) was celebrated by Homer for its 
amazing riches and fertility. Its chief city bore the same name as the island ; it 
has been celebrated in ancient and modern times for the excellence of its harbour and 
the strength of its fortifications. The Peninsula of Leucadia (Santa Maura) was 
made into an island by cutting through the isthmus which connected it with the 
main land, to facilitate navigation. The Echinades (Curzolari) were a small 
cluster of islands near the mouth of the river Achelous. Cephallonia was the 
largest of the western Grecian islands, and the least noted in history. South of it 



~^.1<au,tea''-r3'- 




.AnX) OF CrTHEBA. 



RELIGION OF GREECE. 173 

was Zacynthus (Zante), celebrated for the fertility of its soil and for its fountains 
of bitumen. West of the Peloponnesus are the Strophades (Strivoli), more anciently 
called Plotae, because they were supposed to have been floating islands ; and south 
of them is Sphacteria (Sphagia^), "which guards the entrance of Pylos (Navarino), 

South of the Peloponnesus is Cythera (Cerigo), sacred to Venus, and cele- 
brated in ancient times for its fertility and beauty. It contained two large cities, 
Cythera and Scanda, provided with excellent harbours, and enriched with the 
commerce of Egypt and Libya. The island was taken by the Athenians in the 
Peloponnesian war, and the inhabitants treated with great cruelty and injustice. It 
never afterwards recovered its former prosperity. 

At the time of the commencement of the certain history of Greece, we find 
the country divided between two races, the Ionian and Dorian ; the former remark- 
able for their democratic spirit and their hostility to hereditary privileges, patriotic 
and favourable to commerce and the fine arts : the Dorians preferring an aristo- 
cratic government, and cherishing a warlike and almost savage spirit, and a hatred 
to commerce and the fine arts, because of their tendency to lead to effeminacy, and 
to change the ranks of society, which Dorian legislators always made hereditary. 
In every Dorian state we find slavery in its worst forms, and the slaves were almost 
deprived of hope, being fixed in their condition by the laws. Whilst the Ionian 
were frequently changed, the Dorian institutions were remarkably permanent. The 
difference between the two races is the principal characteristic of Grecian politics ; 
it runs through the entire history, and was the chief cause of the hatred between 
Athens and Sparta. Covered with independent cities, and parcelled out into many 
small states, whose narrow limits greatly facilitated revolution, Greece early 
became celebrated for the rapid developement of political science. 

Notwithstanding the many causes of division among the Greeks, there were 
other circumstances which united the whole Hellenic race by a common band of 
nationality. The chief of these was the unity of refigion, connected with which 
W'Cre the national festivals and games, in which Greeks only were allowed to share. 
If, as many have supposed, the Greeks derived the elements of their religion from 
Asia or Egypt, they soon made it so peculiarly their own that it retained no fea- 
tures of its original- source. For, while the Asiatics symbolize some power of 
nature, or associate some visible object with a latent power, the gods of Greece 
were human personages, possessing the forms and attributes of man in a highly 
exalted degree. Whilst the paganism of Asia was a religion of fear, the polytheism 
of Greece was a religion of love. The priesthood of the former was a peculiar 
caste ; that of the latter open to all. The religion of Greece was essentially poe- 
tical, and as such it had a most beneficial eflfect upon the fine arts, and facilitated 
the progress of knowledge by separating philosophy from religion. The oracles 
of Dodona and Delphi were national, but they were more regarded by the Dorians 
than by the lonians, who soon separated themselves from the trammels of super- 
stition. But the beautiful religion of Greece could have no permanence: for its 



174 



GREECE, 



influence depended on feeling, not on faith ; and its support was left to voluntary 
offerings. 

All the constitutions of the Grecian states were republican, but they were 
so various that scarcely any two of them can be said to have been alike. All the 
most severe public and private labours were performed by slaves, and in some 
states they alone managed agriculture. Foreign merchants were treated with jea- 
lousy, and could never obtain the privilege of citizens. Coinage was one of the 
rights reserved to the state, but little attention was paid to finance. The citizens 
served as voluntary soldiers, and the magistrates were rewarded with honour, 
and not with money ; consequently, taxation was almost unnecessary. Heavy 
taxes were, however, resorted to in later times, when mercenary armies were 
employed, when large navies were supported, and ambassadors sent to distant 
countries. The provision for public festivals and theatrical shows was another 
source of expense, and to these, in Athens and other places, was added the pay of 
the dicast, or jurymen, often numbering several hundreds, composed chiefly of the 
lower classes, whose decisions were influenced by prejudice and passion, rather 
than by law and justice. In consequence of these heavy expenses, many of the 
cities were brought into great pecuniary embarrassment.* Further notices of the 
political and social condition of Greece will occur in the course of the historical 
narrative. 

* Taylor. Butler. Hcercn. 







(TRHobESTi 




SECTION II, 




'T appears that the people whom we, after the Romans, call Greeks, 
but who distinguished themselves by the name of Hellenes, were not 
the first inhabitants of their country. It is from the Greeks them- 
selves, however, that we derive all the knowledge we possess of the 
earliest inhabitants of Greece. The names of many races which in 
later times were regarded as barbarous, or foreign, are recorded as 
having preceded them there. Among all these, the most important, because most 
wndely spread, and of the longest continuance, is that of the Pelasgians, a people 
who appear to have settled in most parts of Greece, and from whom a con- 
siderable portion of the Greek population was properly descended. The Cau- 
cones, Leleges, and other barbarous tribes who likewise inhabited Greece, are also 
regarded by Thirlwall* as parts of the Pelasgic nation, and he concludes that 
the name Pelasgians was a general one, like that of the Saxons, Franks, or 
Allemanni; but that each of the Pelasgian tribes had a name peculiar to itself. 
Many ancient authorities are cited by modern writers to show the wide diffusion 
of the Pelasgic race, and Greek traditions prove that almost all parts of Greece 
and the islands of the ^gean Sea were peopled by the Pelasgians. But while the 
great extent to which the race was spread seems to be universally admitted, much 
diversity exists in the attempts of modern writers to show from what quarter it 
originally came. Many of the Greek traditions represent the Peloponnesus as the 
original seat of the Pelasgians, whence they spread to Thessaly, and thence to the 
islands of the JEgean and the Asiatic coast ; but the true opinion, according to 
many modern writers, is that derived from our knowledge of the original seats of 
the human race : that the Pelasgians spread themselves from Asia into Europe, 
across the Hellespont, and around the northern shores of the Mgean Sea. Accord- 
ing to Herodotus,! the Athenians were a Pelasgic race, which had settled in Attica 



* TlurlwaH's IJititory of Greece. 



t Herodotus, viii. 44; i. 57. 
(175) 



176 GREECE. 

from the earliest times, and had undergone no change except by receiving a new 
name and adopting a new language. In most parts of Greece, however, the Pe- 
lasgic and Hellenic races became intermingled ; but the former at all times probably 
formed the principal portion of the population of Greece. The Hellenes excelled 
the Pelasgi in military prowess and enterprising spirit, and were thus enabled in 
some instances to expel them from the country. The original seat of the Hellenes 
was, according to Aristotle, near Dodona, in Epirus ; but they first appeared in 
the south of Thessaly, about 1384 B. C, according to the received chronology. 
In accordance with the common method of the Greeks, of inventing names to 
account for the origin of nations, the Hellenes are represented as descended from 
Hellen, who had three sons, Dorus, Xuthus, and .^olus. Achseus and Ion are 
represented as the sons of Xuthus, and from these four, Dorus, .'Eolus, Achaeus 
and Ion, the Dorians, i?i]olians, Acheeans and lonians were descended, who formed 
the four tribes into which the Hellenic nation was for many centuries divided, and 
who were distinguished from each other by many peculiarities in language and 
institutions.* 

It is reasonably supposed that the Pelasgic and Hellenic tongues were dif- 
ferent dialects of a common language, which formed by their union the Greek 
language of later times. But while the subject of the original language of the 
two races is a fruitful theme of controversy, an equal difference of opinion prevails 
among ancient writers respecting the degree of civilization to which the Pelasgi 
had attained before they were blended with the Hellenes. The same evidence, 
says Thirlwall, which disposes us to believe that the Pelasgians spoke a language 
nearly akin to the Hellenic, must render us willing to admit that before they came 
into contact with any foreign people in Greece, they may have tilled the ground, 
planted the vine, launched their boats on the sea, dwelt together in walled towns, 
and honoured the gods, as authors of their blessings, with festive rites and sacred 
songs. And it is satisfactory to find that all this, if not clearly ascertained, is at 
least consistent with the general tenor of ancient tradition. Without examining 
the pretensions set up on behalf of the Pelasgians to the art of writing, to religious 
mysteries, and to a theological literature, we shall notice one subject which affords 
us surer ground for observation, and perhaps the best measure for judging of the 
condition and character of the Pelasgians. The most ancient architectural monu- 
ments in Europe, which may perhaps outlast all that have been reared in later ages, 
clearly appear to have been the M'orks of their hands. The huge structures, remains 
of which are visible in many parts of Greece, in Epirus, Italy, and the western 
coast of Asia Minor, and which are commonly described by the epithet Cyclopean, 
because, according to the Greek legends, the Cyclops built the walls of Tyrins and 
Mycenee, might more properly be called Pelasgian, from their real authors.f 

* Anthon's Class. Diet, p. 5S7. 

t Thirlwall's Greece. See also an able summary of the arguments on this subject in 
Anthon's Classical Dictionary, p. 490. 



DANA us AND TKdYl'TUS. 177 

A general oiiiiiion prevailed ainono- Ihe Greeks of a later period, that in remote 
ages before the fall of the Pelasgian supremacy, the shores of Greece had been 
visited by wanilerers from distant lands, who had founded colonies, built cities, and 
introduced a knowledge of the useful arts and social institutions among the ruder 
natives. The following will serve to give a tolerably exact idea of the nature of 
the legends relating to these emigrations, the truth of which, until recently, was 
regarded by the learned as sufficiently established. Inachus, the son of Oceanus, 
was said to have founded the kingdom of Argos, B.C. 1807, and was succeeded 
by his son, Phoroneus. He is said to have given his name to the principal river 
of Argolis. He was the father of lo, a priestess of Juno at Argos, and the 
unhappy object of Jupiter's attachment. Juno becoming jealous of her, 
Jupiter changed lo into a white cow, which Juno obtained from him as a present. 
She then set Argus to w^atch the cow. Jupiter sent Mercury to steal her away, 
but was unable to avoid the vigilant Argus. He therefore killed him with a stone, 
but failed to release lo from the power of Juno, who sent a gatlHy to torment her. 
The unfortunate lo vainly fled from its pursuit. She swam over the Ionian Sea, 
which thence derived its name from her, and wandered over various countries until 
she at length arrived on the banks of the Nile, where she assumed her original 
form, and bore to Jupiter a son named Epaphus. From Epaphus were descended 
Danaus and .'Egyptus. The former had many wives, and fifty daughters; the lat- 
ter as many wives and fifty sons. But dissensions arose between Danaus and the 
sons of iEgyptus, and the latter fled from the hostility of his brother with his 
wives and daughters in a fifty-oared galley, which he invented and built by the 
aid of Minerva. He first landed at Rhodes, but soon after passed over to Argos, 
where Gelanor, who ruled there, readily resigned the government to the stranger 
who had brouaht thither civilization and the arts. The name of the new monarch 
was then given to the people. To the Danaids was ascribed the discovery of the 
springs or wells which relieved the natural aridity of the Argive soil. These seem 
to have disappeared at the command of Neptune, who, softened by the beauty of 
one of the sisters, revealed to her the most famous of the streams that contributed 
to form the Lernaean lake. The sons of yEgyptus came now to Argolis, request- 
ing their uncle to forgive their past transgressions, and to give them his daughters 
in marriage. The crafty king, fearing to refuse compliance, consented to give his 
daughters to them, but on the day of their marriage he armed them with daggers, 
and exhorted them to slay in the night their unsuspecting bridegrooms. All obeyed 
except one, who loved her spouse, and succeeded in effecting a reconciliation 
between him and her father. 

The whole of this legend has been beautifully and satisfactorily explained. 
lo is a type of early agriculture, advancing by slow and painful experience. 
Jupiter is the personification of the firmament, the source of light and life. Juno 
is the type of the atmosphere, ever changing and stormy. Early agriculture suf- 
fers from the changes which impede the fostering care of the pure element which 
lies beyond, and hence the primitive husbandman has to exercise eternal vigilance, 
Vol. I. 23 



178 GREECE. 

typified in Argus, over his labours. The legend makes Argus to be slain by Mer- 
cury, when lo is free to wander over the whole earth. Mercury is the god of 
language, and the inventor of letters ; hence we see by the legend that when the 
rules and precepts of agriculture were introduced, first orally, and then in writing, 
man was released from the cares of early husbandry, and the science of agriculture 
freely spread itself among all nations. But Danos signifies dry, and Argos was 
deficient in water. Hence the Danai were simply the people of the thirsty land 
of Argos, and they, after a common custom among the Greeks, are imbodied in a 
single hero, Danaus. The Arabs term springs the daughters of the earth ; the 
daughters of Danaus are the daughters of the thirsty land. We find the names of 
at least four of the daughters of Danaus, are the names of as many springs. Still 
further, a head is a usual name for a spring in many languages ; and a legendary 
mode of accounting for the origin of founts, is to ascribe to them the welling forth 
of the blood of some person, who was slain on the spot where the spring emitted its 
waters. The name of the son of yEgyptus, who was preserved, was Lyncaeus. It 
is to be observed that the founts of the Inachus were in Mount Lyrceon or Lyn- 
ceon, and here, perhaps, lies the origin of Lyncseus, who in one form of the legend 
fights and vanquishes Danaus ; that is, the dry nature of the soil is overcome by 
the stream from Mount Lyncseus. Danaus was succeeded by Lynceus, the grand- 
father of Acrisius. Danae, the daughter of Acrisius, was the mother of Perseus, 
who was the first Grecian celebrated as a warrior. He founded the city of Mycenae, 
which became for some time the capital of Argolis. Argos afterwards, however, 
recovered its supremacy, and Mycense became inconsiderable. 

Cotemporary with Perseus, B. C. 1283, was Pelops, son of Tantalus, King of 
Phrygia, who, being driven from his native country by misfortunes in war, settled 
in Greece, with immense treasures. He was attended into Peloponnesus by a 
body of Achaians from Thessaly, whom he established in Laconia. Pelops mar- 
ried Hippodameia, daughter of the chief of Pisa, in Elis, whom he succeeded in 
the sovereignty of that territory. By his able conduct and numerous family con- 
nexions, he succeeded in acquiring so much influence that the peninsula received 
from him the name of Peloponnesus. His daughter was married to Sthenelus, son 
of Perseus, and their son, Eurystheus, was the famous rival and persecutor of Her- 
cules, who was also descended from both Perseus and Pelops. Eurystheus, whose 
hatred of Hercules ceased not with that hero's death, pursued his deceased rival's 
children and adherents into Attica, where he was slain in battle, 1207 B. C. He 
was succeeded on the throne by his uncle Atreus, who united in his person the claims 
of the two houses, Pelops and Perseus. He extended his sovereignty over all 
Peloponnesus, and transmitted the Argian sceptre in its greatest glory to his son, 
Agamemnon. 

Lacedsemon, or Sparta, concerning whose origin there is no certain memorial, 
had now become distinguished under its king, Tyndareus, whose sons. Castor and 
Pollux, had died in the prime of life, and whose daughters, Clytemnestra and 
Helen, were given in marriage to Agamemnon and his brother, Menelaus. By 



BCEOTIA 



179 



this marriage the dominions of Tyndareus fell to the two brothers, the immediate 
command of them being vested in Menelaus, 1200 B.C. 

Of the provinces without the peninsula, Thessaly, next to Crete, was the most 
ancient scene of Grecian story. In Thessaly, famous for its horses, Centaurs were 
first known. They are supposed to have been a people superior in acquirements 
to the more southern Greeks of their time. From the port lolcus, in Thessaly, 
sailed the celebrated expedition of the Argonauts under Jason, who may be con- 
sidered, says an able writer, as merely the leader of one of the most considerable 
piratical expeditions which had hitherto been undertaken. In his enterprise, 
Jason was joined by many young men of distinction from other parts of Greece, 
B.C. 1225. 

Boeotia, at an early period, attracted the atten- 
tion of adventurers, and a Phoenician colony, under 
Cadmus, is reported to have founded its principal 
city, Thebes. Cadmus was the son of Agenor, king 
of Phoenicia. At a later period, Cadmus left his 
city, and became king of the Illyrians, and was 
finally changed into a serpent. Thebes boasted of 
having received the precious gift of letters from the 
Phoenician colonists ; and Herodotus adopts this 
opinion after a diligent inquiry, which ought not to 
be wholly disregarded, because he was deceived by 
some monuments which were either forged or misin- 
terpreted. 

That Boeotia early became a powerful state is 
sufficiently proved by the fabulous narratives of 
the adventures of Bacchus, Antiope, Zethus, Am- 
phion, Amphitryon, Hercules, Laius, ffidipus, Eteo- 
cles, and Polynices. The war which it sustained 
against the seven chiefs, who combined to place jason.» 

Polynices on the throne wrongfully held by Eteocles, 

as authenticated by Hesiod and Homer, and made illustrious by the tragedy of 
^schylus and the epic poem of Statius, is the first instance of a political league 
and a regular warfare recorded in the annals of Greece. 

iEtolia was, from the dangers of its seas, nearly excluded from commercial 
intercourse with the neighbouring nations, and in consequence we find great infe- 
riority in the comparative progress of the iEtolians. Their heroes, Tydeus, 
Meleager, and others, have been immortalized by poetry ; and Thoas, commander 
of their troops on the plains of Troy, is represented as a leader of much merit and 
remarkable eloquence. Phocis, Doris, and Locris, afford no materials for history, 
at this early period. 




* From a statue in the British Museum. 



180 c; R E E C E , 




1/ I'J. 



m 






TEMPLS OF THSSEUS. 



Attica is the only remaining state whose history is worthy of being narrated 
from tradition. Cecrops was the first who there introduced the arts of civilization. 
He led to Attica a colony from Egypt, introduced the worship of the goddess 
Athena or Minerva, and thus gave the name, if not a foundation, to the city of 
Athens. The celebrated court of Areopagus is said to have been founded by him ; 
and in consequence of his wise institutions and the security of Attica from invasion, 
strangers were attracted, population increased, and civilization made more rapid 
progress than in any other province of Greece. 

A second colony is said to have been sent out from Egypt under Erechtheus, 
with supplies of corn for their Attic kinsmen. Peteus is made to lead a colony to 
Attica but one generation before the Trojan war. Little is recorded of the suc- 
cessors of Cecrops, until the time of iEgeus, contemporary with Minos, King of 
Crete, and the father of the renowned Theseus. That prince was deemed by 
Plutarch worthy of a place in the parallel lists of the great men of Greece and 
Rome ; and his remarkable history bears no slight resemblance to that of the 
Gothic knights-errant, whilst, as King of Athens, the foundation of the future 
greatness of the city was laid by his wise measures. To the popularity his feats 
of arms had acquired for him among the warm-hearted Grecians, he added all the 
arts of persuasion to consolidate, in one well-regulated government, all the inde- 
pendent districts of Attica. The approbation of the Delphic oracle was then 
procured, in order to secure the stability of his improvements. The rest of his life 
affords little worthy of notice, historians giving to his riper years the extravagance 
of youth, after attributing what the maturest age has seldom equalled to his ear- 



S I R G E O F f R O Y. 181 

Host manhootl. Notwithstanding his great and patriotic deeds, he is repre- 
sented as having in the end lost all favour and authority among the Athenians, 
and having at last died in exile. After him, Menestheiis, a descendant of 
royal blood, acquired the sovereignty, and commanded the Athenian troops in 
the Trojan war. 

A frequent communication, sometimes friendly but oftener hostile, was main- 
tained between the eastern and western coasts of the yEgean Sea. These voyages 
were usually undertaken for piracy rather than commerce, and men, women and 
children, together with cattle and beasts of burden, were the principal objects of 
plunder. No crime was more common than that of carrying off ladies of superior 
rank to grace the household of the leader of the expedition ; and the frequent 
occurrence of these outrages may be inferred from the fact that Tyndareus exacted 
from all the suitors for the hand of Helen that they would assist with all their 
power in recovering her, should she be stolen. This event took place when Paris, 
son of Priam, King of Troy, visited the court of Menelaus, the husband of Helen. 
An outrage so heinously injurious to one of the greatest princes of Greece, and 
aggravated by a breach of the rights of hospitality, was justly considered as 
demanding the united vengeance of the Grecian chiefs ; and the hope of returning 
laden with the spoils of the richer provinces of the East, was a powerful incentive 
to leaders bred in poverty and accustomed to rapine. 

A large army was collected from all parts of Greece by the exertions of Mene- 
laus and his brother Agamemnon, who led them to the siege of Troy. But the 
metrojiolis of Priam held out much longer than her enemies had anticipated. At 
length, their arms w'ere crowned with success; the beauteous Helen was recovered, 
and the rich treasures of Troy were theirs. (B. C. 1183.) But the victory w-as 
dearly bought. Most of the chieftains had fallen in the field, and many of the 
remainder returned home only to find their thrones usurped and their lands occu- 
pied by the invasion of lawless tribes. The least unfortunate of those adventurers 
found their dominions uncultivated or their territories laid waste, their families torn 
by discord, or their cities shaken by sedition. Agamemnon himself had no sooner 
reached his native soil than he was traitorously murdered, ^gisthus, his kinsman, 
had seduced his queen Clytsemnestra, and obtained possession of the government. 
The friends of the former king fled, with his son Orestes, to the Athenian state, 
which seems to have suffered least by the absence of the commander of its forces, 
having made the nearest approach to a settled government. After seven years of 
exile, Orestes found means to avenge his father's death, and to recover the throne 
of Argos, which he retained with great power and reputation till his death. 

Much doubt has been entertained respecting the credibility of the story of 
the Trojan war, of the actors, and the manner in which it was conducted. Helen, 
most probably, was a mythological person, and she was worshipped at Sparta and 
elsewhere. Other heroes than Paris, according to ancient traditions, carried off 
Helen ; and many reasons have been adduced to prove that the description of the 



182 



GREECE 




^ttt^^:^^ siege of Troy, found in the verses of Homer, is but a 

complicated form of the legend of its capture by the 
renowned Hercules.* 

The period immediately succeeding the Trojan war 
affords few lights to history. About eighty years after 
the destruction of Troy, according to Thucydides, a great 
revolution took place, which totally changed the popula- 
tion of a large part of Greece, and that of all the western 
coast of Asia Minor. The adherents and descendants of 
Flercules had found in Doris a refuge from the persecu- 
tions of Eurystheus. The great-grandsons of Hyllus, 
eldest son of Hercules (whose descendants had taken 
refuge from Eurystheus in Doris), crossed the Corinthian 
HousR. Quif fpom Naupactus with a powerful armament, and 

speedily overran the whole peninsula, except the mountain province of Arcadia, 
and Achaia, in which Tisamenus, the son of Orestes, made a gallant and successful 
stand. The country which fell into the hands of the invaders was now divided 
among the three descendants of Hercules, who led the expedition. Temenus 
took possession of Argos, Cresphontes of Messenia, and Lacedemon was allotted 
to Aristodemus; but the joint sovereignty was conferred upon his twin sons Eurys- 
thenes and Procles, in consequence of his death. Corinth was given to Aletes, 
another descendant of Hercules ; and Oxylus, an iEtolian chieftain who had aided 
them with his arms in the conquest, received Eleia for his services. The Argian 
dominion was still further enlarged by Phalces, the son of Temenus, and by Reg- 
nidas, the son of Phalces. The former acquired the sovereignty of Sicyon ; the 
latter that of Phlius. 

A general oppression of the old inhabitants followed this division of the 
country ; the Heracleids becoming in the end the sole rulers of all the Pelopon- 
nesus except Arcadia and Achaia. A new distinction of the Grecian people was 
the consequence of this revolution. The Pelasgian name, which had prevailed on 
the continent, and the Lelegian in the islands, had at an early period given place, 
for reasons not distinctly ascertained, to the iEolian and Ionian, the latter desig- 
nation being applied principally to Attica and its colonies, the former to all the rest 
of Greece, both within and without the peninsula. Out of these two, four distinc- 
tions of the Grecian people arose after the irruption of the Heracleids. . In all the 
immediate possessions and distant colonies of these invaders, the Doric name and 
dialect prevailed. The Athenians rose to such pre-eminence over all other people 
of Ionian descent, as to give to their horde their own name, the Attic. Excepting 
the Athenians and the Megareans, who retained the Doric name, all the other 



* For many interesting remarks on this subject, see Thirl wall's Greece, Keightley's Mytho- 
logy) ^"tl Anlhon's Classical Dictionary. 



THE OLYMPIC GAMES. 183 

Greeks without the isthmus, claimed iEolic origin; and the Ionian name and dialect 
was retained only by those who had migrated to Asia and the islands. 

Except in Arcadia, nothing remained unaltered ; and the Dorian invaders 
brought everything back to that ruder state, in which they had lived among their 
native mountains. Disputes soon arose among these allied princes respecting 
the partition of the conquered countries. Internal dissensions, occasioned by the 
lawlessness of their subjects, continually raged in the respective governments. The 
enterprising Arcadians seldom allowed them a relaxation from external hostilities. 
By the concurrence of all these causes, Greece was rapidly falling back into a 
state of anarchy and barbarism, similar to that in which it had been before the 
time of Pelops and Hercules.* 

From the writings of Homer, it is evident that athletic games had been occa- 
sionally celebrated under the superintendence of different princes, and at the fune- 
ral obsequies of eminent men. Among many other places, Eleia and Peloponnesus, 
according to many traditions, had frequently been the scene of these contests, and 
the resort of nobles and princes from all parts of Greece. While turbulence and 
barbarity thus prevailed, Iphitus succeeded to the throne of Elis. Unwarlike, 
though otherwise active and enterprising, he sought for a remedy for the disor- 
derly condition of his country. To the superstitious regard of all classes of his 
countrymen for the oracle of Delphi, he looked for support in his meditated pro- 
ject. He sent a solemn embassy to Delphi to supplicate information from the 
deity, " How the anger of the gods, which threatened total destruction to Pelo- 
ponnesus through endless hostilities among its people, might be averted ?" The 
answer he received was probably one of his own suggesting : " The Olympic 
festival must be restored ; for the neglect of that solemnity had brought on the 
Greeks the indignation of Jupiter, to whom it was dedicated, and of Hercules, by 
whom it was instituted : and that a cessation of arms must be immediately declared 
for all cities desirous of partaking in it." This response was widely circulated, 
and Iphitus immediately promulgated the armistice. The other Peloponnesians, 
wavering between respect for the oracle and jealousy at the ascendant thus 
assumed by the Eleians, sent a common deputation to inquire concerning the 
authenticity of the oracular mandate reported to them. The Pythoness, however, 
adhered to her former answer, and the Peloponnesians were further commanded to 
submit to the directions and authority of the Eleians, in ordering and establish- 
ing the ancient laws and customs of their forefathers.f Encouraged by the sub- 
mission of the Peloponnesians to the mandates of the oracle, Iphitus proceeded to 
model his institution. The date of the revival by Iphitus is fixed by Eratosthenes, 
followed by Blair, at 884 B.C.; but CalHmachus, followed by Clinton,| places it 
fifty-six years later. The Olympiads began to be reckoned from the year 776 B. C. 

* Mitford's Greece, vol. i. For a more extended account of the return of the Ileracleids and 
the consequences resulting therefrom, see Thirlwall's Greece, vol. i. 
t Mitford's Greece, 
t Fasti Hellenic!, (vol. ii. p. 408.) 




It was ordained that a festival should be held at the temple of Jupiter, at 
Olyrapia, in Eleia, free for all Greeks, every fourth year. It was to last five days, 
and to consist in sacrifices to Jupiter and Hercules, and in games celebrated in 
honour of them ; and to prevent interruption by war, an armistice was ordained to 
take place throughout Greece during the celebration, and for a certain period before 
and after it. 

Tradition stated that the Heracleids, on appointing Oxylus to the throne of 
Elis, and the guardianship of the temple of the Olympian Jupiter, had consecrated 
all Eleia to the gods, denouncing curses on all who should invade the sacred ter- 
ritory, or refuse to defend it against invasion. The respect paid to this tradition, 
the observance of the truce, and the perpetual immunity of the Eleian territory, 
are among the most remarkable circumstances in the whole history of Greece. 
Unambitious, and regardless of the pleasures of the capital, the nobles and men 
of property devoted their time to rural amusements, and agricultural pursuits, 
which were left wholly to the peasants in the other parts of Greece. While 



AFFAIRS OF ELEIA AND COR I. \ Til. 185 

men of property elsewhere resided in fortified towns for security, the towns of 
Eleia, even Elis itself, remained unfortified, and though the Eleians were the 
wealthiest people of Peloponnesus, the richest of them mostly resided on their 
estates, and many without ever visiting the capital. 

Even in its earliest and least perfect form, many great advantages must have 
attended the institution of the Olympiad. The suspension of hostilities for a con- 
siderable time, both before and after the instituted festival, the facility of inter- 
course, the promotion of knowledge, and the impulse given to civilization and 
humanity, were not the least of the manifold advantages which resulted from the 
\visdom of the plan devised by Iphitus for the protection of his small principality 
against the dreadful invasion of more powerful neighbours. While each petty 
prince desired to exalt his prerogative, and extend his dominions, his usurpations 
were counteracted by the resistance of his subjects, and the passions of neighbour- 
ing princes balanced his desire of conquest. Every kingdom was torn by a double 
conflict, dangers threatened on all sides, subjects expelled their kings, and kings 
became tyrants. Whilst Lycurgus fortified Sparta with disciplined valour, Iphitus 
accomplishetl the same end by surrounding Elis with a w'all of sanctity, which 
effectually protected it from every hostile encroachment. 

From causes very imperfectly known, a general revolution in the government 
of each state, shortly after followed. Even under their ciirly monarchical consti- 
tutions, the vigorous principles of democracy seem to have everywhere existerl. 
The principles began to be agitated soon after the return of the Heracleids, and 
they acquired so much strength, that in the course of a few ages monarchy was 
everywhere abolished, and the term tyrant was introduced to designate those who, 
in opposition to these new political principles, acquired even the most limited 
monarchical sw^ay. It became men only to submit to the government of a com- 
monwealth. Argos was among the first to abolish royalty, but was not fortunate 
in the change. At Corinth, the descendants of Aletes retained the power and the 
title of royalty for five generations, after which, according to Pausanias, the scep- 
tre passed into another family, called the Bacchiads, from Bacchis, the first king 
of their race, and was transmitted in this fine for five generations more, when Teles- 
tes, the last of these princes, having been murdered, the kingly oflfice was abo- 
lished, and in its place yearly magistrates, with the title of prytanes, were elected, 
exclusively, however, from the house of Bacchis. The oligarchy of the Bacchiads 
was at length overthrown by Cypselus, who banished many of the Corinthians, 
deprived some of their possessions, and put others to death. He ruled Corinth 
thirty years, and is designated sometimes as king, oftener as tyrant. His son, 
Periander, who succeeded to his power, was rigorous in his administration, but was 
ranked as one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece, rather, it would seem, from his 
political prudence than for his abilities and learning. He was succeeded by his 
cousin, or nephew, Psammetichus, whose short reign was followed by a common- 
wealth, so constituted as to render Corinth the most happily governed, if not the 
most renowned state of Greece. Her inhabitants first built the war vessels now 
Vol. I. 24 



im 



GREECE 



known by the Latin name of Trirenrics. Tlie first sea fight recorded in history 
was between them and their colony of Corcyra. B.C. 657. The Isthmian games, 
instituted in imitation of the Olympic, were celebrated within their own territory, 
and brought them considerable advantages ; and Corinth, though never formidable 
to he:" neiglibours, was always respected among the Grecian states. 882 B.C. 

Little of importance occurs among the traditions concerning the Lacedemonian 
state, until we come to the period when Lycurgus succeeded his brother Poly- 
dictes on the throne. Soon after the death of Polydeictes it was discovered that 
his widow was pregnant, when Lycurgus declared that he held the crown in trust 
only, to resign it to his brother's child ; and he accordingly, on the birth of the 
child, assumed the title of protector ; at the same time presenting the infant to the 




LYCURGUS PBESENTIMG THE I tC F A N T KING TO THE S P H R I. 



Ephori, as their legitimate sovereign. The prudent and upright measures pur- 
sued by Lycurgus to secure for the infant possession of the throne, greatly raised 
his already high popularity, whilst it procured for him the resentment of the 
late queen, who had made overtures of marriage to him, promising to destroy the 
embryo hopes of Sparta if he would accept her proposals. In the distracted state 
of the government, the queen found it not difficult to raise a powerful party against 
him. Lycurgus, finding it no season for introducing the reform he contemplated, 
determined, as he was yet young, to increase his knowledge by vi-iting such for- 
eign countries as w^ere famous for art and science. Leaving the administration of 
Sparta to his opponents, he passed to Crete, where the laws of Minos arte said to 
have been the chief object of his study, and a Cretan poet one of his instructors in 



LAWS OF LYCURGUS. 



187 



the art of legislation. In later ages many extensions of his travels were made by 
his a(hniring countrymen. It was asserted not only thai, like the Jewish lawgiver, 
he was versed in all the learning of the Egyptians, but that he even penetrated to 
India, and sat at the feet of the Bramins. On his return he found the disorders 
of the state aggravated, and the neetl of a reform more generally felt. He received 
from the oracle of Delphi, a response highly favourable to his wishes. 

Having secured the aid of a numerous party among the leading men, he pro- 
cured the enactment of a series of solemn ordinances or compacts, by which the 
civil and military constitution of the commonwealth, the distribution of jiroperty, 
the education of the citizens, the rules of their daily intercourse and domestic life, 
were to be fixed on a hallowed and immutable basis. Violent opposition was 
excited to many of these regulations, by those whom they injuriously atfected, 
which was carried so far as to endanger his life, and on one occasion even cost him 
an eye. 




LTCDBiUS COMSnr, TIMG THE ORACLE. 



The fortitude and patience of Lycurgus finally triumphed over all obstacles, 
and the lawgiver lived to see his great idea, unfolded in all its beauty, begin its 
steady course, bearing on its front the marks of immortal vigour. His last action 
was to sacrifice himself to the perpetuity of his work. He summoned an assembly 



188 GREECE. 

of the people, and declared that he had now but one new regulation to propose, 
upon which, however, it w^is first necessary to consult the oracle of Delphi; that 
meanwhile, his countrymen, who had seen the success of his labours, would engage 
that no alteration should take place till his return. 

The kings, the senate, and the people, ratified the engagement by a solemn 
oath, and desired him to set out on his journey. His reception at Delphi was 
favourable, as before. The oracle declared " that the constitution of Sparta, as it 
now stood, was excellent, and, as long as it remained entire, would insure happi- 
ness and glory to the state." The response was transmitted to his country, 
whither Lycurgus had determined never more to return. He put himself to death, 
convinced that the duration of the government which he had established would be 
better secured by the eternal sanctity of an oath than by the temporary influence 
of his presence. 

Messenia was the least mountainous and most generally fruitful of all the pro- 
vinces of Peloponnesus ; but the government of the country was never calculated 
to secure the benefits of its natural advantages to the inhabitants. Its history 
affords but few points worthy of the notice of the general historian until the time 
of the Messcnian war, which may be said to form almost the whole of it. The 
following are the assigned causes of the war. There -was at Limnse, on the fron- 
tiers of Laconia and Messenia, a temple of Artemis Lymnatis, where Messenians 
and Lacedaemonians, both being of Dorian origin, offered prayers and sacrifices. In 
a tumult at a festival, Teleclus, King of Sparta, son of Archelaus, the cotempo- 
rary of Lycurgus, was killed. Mutual charges and recriminations followed, and, 
after some further provocation, the Spartans determined to settle the dispute by 
recourse to arms. Without openly declaring war, they prepared for hostilities, and 
took an oath never to abandon the enterprise, and never even to return to their 
families till Messenia should be subdued. Amphea, a town on the frontier, was first 
surprised and captured, B.C. 743. Euphaes, who reigned in Messenia, wisely 
resolved to withdraw all his subjects into the fortified towns. During three years, 
the Lacedaemonians were obliged to content themselves with ravaging the fields 
and destroying the harvests of their enemies. Secure in his cities, Euphaes re- 
venged the pillage committed in Messenia by similar depredations on the frontiers of 
Laconia. In the fifth year of the war, the belligerents came to a general engage- 
ment, which gave the Spartans no advantage over their enemies. Euphaes drew 
his people from all their inland ports to Ithome, a place of great natural strength, 
and open to supplies by sea, the Lacedaemonians having no fleet. The apparent 
desperation of their enemies struck the Spartans with awe, and they sufi'ered the 
war to languish for five years. In the sixth they fought a battle with the Messe- 
nians, but without success. Euphaes was killed in the conflict ; but the Messe- 
nians chose another commander, Aristodemus, whose vigour was not likely to prove 
less dangerous to Sparta than the wisdom and courage of his predecessors. Dur- 
ing the four succeeding years they abstained from hostility, while the new king 
was judiciously employed in forming alliances with the Argians, Arcadians, and 



THE CONQUEST OF JVIESSEMA. 



189 




Sicyonians. The Arcadians rendered him assistance in the fifth year of his reign, 
when the Spartans again marched all their forces against Ithome. A pitched bat- 
tle was fought, in which, by a skilful disposition of his troops, he succeeded. in 
gaining a victory over the Lacedsemonians. But he soon after died, it is said, by 
his own hand. When his services were lost to the Messenians, they soon fell 
before Spartan intrepidity, and their territory was annexed to the lands of Laco- 
nia. The inhabitants generally were allowed to occupy their lands, paying one- 
half the produce to Sparta. The conquered Messenians bore the yoke of the vic- 
tors for nearly forty years, when, becoming tired of the insults and oppressions 
of their tyrannical rulers, they sought for a leader, in an attempt to regain their 
former independence. Such a leader was found in Aristomenes, a youth of 
the royal family, who obtained promises of support from Argos and Arcadia, the 
allies of the Messenians in the former war. The young chieftain and his friends 
opened the war by a series of the boldest exploits, whv^h so alarmed the Spartans 
that they fled for counsel to the oracle of Delphi. 

They were directed to procure an adviser from Athens. The inhabitants of 
that city, jealous of Sparta, but fearful of the consequences of disobeying the 



190 GREECE. 

oracle, sent a lame schoolmaster, of obscure origin, named Tyrtseus. This man, 
when three Spartan armies had been defeated, and the kings were dispirited and 
disposed to ask peace of their enemies, encouraged them to continue the war at 
all hazards. A fourth invasion of Messenia followed, in which the Spartans were 
successful ; not, however, by their own valour, but in consequence of the trea- 
chery of Aristocrates, general of the Arcadians, who, in the heat of a battle, went 
over with his forces to the Spartans. Aristomenes, with a small portion of his 
army, succeeded in forcing his way through the enemy, and making good his 
retreat. 

The Messenians now withdrew from the open country to Eira, which the 
Spartans immediately besieged. The town was defended with the utmost bravery, 
Aristomenes daily performing prodigies of valour, which would not have disgraced 
even the famous heroes of the Trojan war. During eleven years the town hehl 
out, when, by the treachery of a Spartan deserter, and the neglect of the Messe- 
nian guard, the Spartans were enabled to gain admittance into the. city. For 
three days and nights the Messenians, men and women, maintained the conflict 
with a tempest driving in their faces ; but the great numbers of the Spartan army 
allowed the continual reinforcement of the post with fresh troops, and Aristomenes 
despaired of expelling the enemy from the city. Forming their forces into the most 
convenient form, the Messenian leaders resolved to force their way from the town, 
and the Spartans, not desirous of encountering an army maddened by despair, 
suffered them to retire from Eira to Arcadia, unmolested. The Messenians were 
kindly received in Arcadia, where Aristomenes soon after resolved to attempt the 
surprise of Sparta herself, whilst the army was engaged in a distant part of Mes- 
senia. Aristocrates frustrated this last plan for the redemption of Messenia, but 
his treachery was discovered, and the indignant Arc-adians stoned to death the 
traitor who disgraced the name of king, and extirpated his whole race. Those 
of the Messenians who fell under the power of Sparta were made helots ; the 
remainder emigrated to Sicily, where they united with the Zancleans, whose city 
they named Messenia ; a name which, with little variation, it still retains. 

Athens, from the time of the Trojan war till after the conquest of the Pelo- 
ponnesus by the Heracleids, affords no events of historical importance. By the 
opportune exertion of his personal prowess, Melanthus, the former king of Pylus, 
who, after the conquest of Messenia, had sought refuge at Athens, killed the 
champion of the Boeotians in single combat, and was rewarded by the grateful 
Athenians with the crown, B.C. 1104. His son Codrus held the sceptre, when 
the Dorians invaded Attica. The oracle of Delphi had assured them of success, 
provided they spared the hfe of the Athenian king. Learning this condition, 
Codrus entered the enemy's camp in disguise, and commenced an altercation with 
a group of soldiers. In the dispute he struck a soldier wnth his hook. The 
man drew his sword, and the supposed peasant was killed. The Athenians then 
sent a herald to claim the body of their king, and the Dorian chiefs, deeming the 
war hopeless, withdrew their forces from Attica. Disputes concerning the sue- 



ABOLITION OF ROYALTY. 



191 




AT n OF OODRUS. 



cession arising, a majority of the people declared that they would have no king 
but Jupiter, and it was decided that Medon, son of Codrus, should be first magis- 
trate of the commonwealth, with the title of Archon ; that this office should be 
hereditary in his family, the archon, however, to be responsible to the assembly 
of the people for due administration of his office. Those who were discontented 
with this arrangement, sailed under the conduct of two brothers of Medon to Asia 
Minor, where they founded Ephesus, Miletus, and ten other cities. Of the actions 
of the twelve hereditary arclions, who followed Medon, no particulars are known. 
Alcmseon was the last hereditary archon. After his death the term of the office 
was limited to ten years. Of the decennial archons, Cherops was the first, 
B.C. 752. Six others followed him in succession. But on the expiration of the 
archonship of Eryxias, B.C. 683, the constitution was changed. The nobility 
selected nine persons for the office, each of whom acted as chief magistrate for one 
year. Three only of the officers seem to have possessed any royal prerogatives, — 
the other six archons constituted the judiciary. 



192 GREECE. 

For many ages, the successive encroachments of the nobles on the privileges 
of the kings and the people are the only events found in the annals of Attica. 
The next epoch, when the obscurity which overhangs the Attic history is broken, 
is marked by the legislation of Draco, B. C. 621. He was the author of the first 
written laws of Athens, and the extreme rigour of its penal enactments was such, 
that Demiades described the character of his laws by saying that they were writ- 
ten not in ink, but in blood. Draco himself is reported to have justified their 
severity by observing that the least offences deserved death, and that he could 
devise no greater punishment for the worst. The severity of his system, however, 
defeated its own purpose. Few would appear as witnesses or accusers, and even 
when brought to trial, the criminal almost always escaped through the humanity 
and lenity of the judges. Twelve years after Draco's legislation, a descendant of 
Codrus was archon, when Cylon, a man of great nobility and power, attempted to 
acquire the sovereignty of his country. He seized the citadel of Athens with his 
troops, but was besieged by Megacles, who trusted to famine to effect his object. 
Cylon sought safety in flight, whilst his followers forsook their arms and sought 
the protection of the altars. They were, however, induced to quit the sanc- 
tuary, and then executed. The perpetrators of this enormity were banished by 
the indignant people, and though they afterwards returned, and many of their 
descendants were men of high consideration, they were ever embarrassed by their 
adversaries, who could readily procure their expulsion by reviving the cry of inhe- 
rited sacrilege. 

Salamis, an island in the Saronic gulf, hitherto subject to Athens, revolted 
and allied itself to Megara. Many attempts were made to reduce it to subjection, 
but always with great loss. It was at length determined by the people to aban- 
don the attempt to reduce it, and a law was passed making it penal to propose a 
renewal of the war; but Salamis, connected with Megara, was a troublesome 
neighbour, and many of the nobles wished for the abrogation of the law which they 
dared not propose. Having composed a poem calculated to excite the people to 
the repeal of the obnoxious law, Solon watched a proper opportunity, during 
an assembly of the people, and ran like a madman into the market-place, where he 
mounted the herald's stone, and vehemently recited his poem to the crowd. Some 
of his friends were near, prepared to admire and applaud ; the people caught the 
feeling of the patriotic poet ; the law respecting Salamis was annulled ; and it was 
decreed immediately to send a fresh expedition against the island. Under Solon's 
direction, the war was brought to a termination honourable to Athens. Party 
feuds still continued to rage with unabated violence at Athens. The highlanders, 
who were the proprietors of the mountain tracts, were favourable to a democratic 
form of government; the lowlanders, who were mostly Eupatridse, or nobles, 
owners of the plain country, aimed at the establishment of an exclusive oligarchy, 
whilst the coastmen, or merchants, were anxious for a mixed government. 

All eyes were turned to the superior character of Solon, as the man most 
capable of settling the distracted state of the commonwealth. His wisdom was 



LAWS OF SOLON. 



193 



universally approved ; his integrity was believed to be above corruption, and his 
re]nitation was extended through the whole of Greece. He executed the task 
with great success, both in respect to the political constitution, and the code of" 
civil and criminal law. To remedy the pressure of immediate difficulties, he abo- 
lished all the laws of Draco, except those against murder. The state of debtors, 
who were liable to be sold for slaves, calling loudly for relief, he made an equitable 
adjustment of the claims of creditors, but at the same time conciliated capitalists by 
raising the value of money. He abolished slavery, and imprisonment for debt, 
which had led to great abuses and cruelties. 




The citizens were arranged into four classes, according to their property, 
measured in agricultural produce. The popular assemblies consisted of all the four 
classes, and usually met on a rocky hill, called the Pnyx, where the orators who 
addressed them could have a view of the whole city and the surrounding country. 
They had the right of confirming or rejecting new laws, of electing magistrates, 
of discussing all public affairs referred to them by the senatorial council of four 
Vol. I. 25 



194 



GREECE. 



hundred, chosen from the first three classes, and of judging in all state trials. 
According to Solon's plan, the court of Areopagus should have been the chief pil- 
lar of the Athenian constitution. Before his time it was a mere engine of aristo- 
cratic oppression. Solon modified its constitution and enlarged its powers. It 
was composed of persons who had held the office of archon, M'hich Solon did not 
abolish. It was made the supreme tribunal in capital cases. It was likewise 
entrusted with the superintendence of morals, and with the censorship upon the 
conduct of the archons at the expiration of their office ; and it had besides the 
privilege of amending or rescinding the measures that had passed the general 
assemblies of the people. 

HE hberties of Athens were scarcely re-established 
when they were subverted by the usurpation of Pisis- 
tratus, a noble who had the art to persuade the lower 
ranks of the Athenians that his popularity with them 
ipE had rendered him odious to those of his own rank. 
Wounding himself and his mules, he drove his chariot 
GG violently into the agora or market-place, and pretended 
that, as he was going into the country, he had been 
waylaid. In a pathetic speech, for he was a most able 
- orator, he persuaded them to grant him a guard of sol- 
diers for his own protection. Scarcely had this favour 
been granted, when he seized on the Acropolis, and made 
himself absolute master of Athens. His offers of favour 
and protection were refused by Solon, who voluntarily 
went into exile, and died, or at least was buried at Salamis. Megacles, the chief 
of the Alcmseonidffi, retired with all his attendants and political friends beyond 
the bounds of Attica, but he soon united Lycurgus with the chief of another fac- 
tion, and the usurper was banished, about a year after obtaining the sovereignty. 
Lycurgus and Megacles soon quarrelled, and the latter opened a negotiation 
with Pisistratus, offering to restore to him the sovereignty on condition of becom- 
ing his son-in-law. 

Pisistratus acceded to the terms, and again assumed sovereign power, amid 
the most extravagant shouts of the people. But a quarrel with Megacles soon 
drove him a second time into banishment, and he remained in exile eleven years. 
He then returned at the head of an army, and having recovered the reins of govern- 
ment, held them till the day of his death without interruption. The power which 
he thus illegally obtained, he adminstered with equity and mildness. He 
continually exerted himself to extend the glory of Athens, and promote the happi- 
ness of her citizens. The wisdom and learning of the age resorted to his court, 
and to him we are indebted for the revised editions of the Ihad, the Odyssey, and 
other works of Homer. Such was the stability of his government, that the Alc- 
maeonidEe, who had gone into exile on his acquiring the supreme power a third 
time, made no further efforts to subvert it, but remained quiet in Macedonia. On 




GATE OF 'J li 



THE BURNING OF NAXOS. 195 

the death of Pisistratus, his sons, Hipparchus and Hippias, succeeded to his 
power. After a joint reign of fourteen years, Hipparchus was murdered by two 
young Athenians, Ilarmodius and Aristogeiton, whose resentment he had provoked 
by an unmerited and atrocious insult. The cruelty with which Hippias punished 
all whom he suspected of having been concerned in his brother's assassination, so 
alienated the affections of the people from him, as to incite the Alcmaonida) to 
attempt his expulsion. A response was received from the Delphic oracle, com- 
manding the Spartans to drive the Pisistratids from Athens; and the superstitious 
Lacedaemonians immediately sent an army for that purpose. After a brief struggle, 
Hippias was forced to abandon Athens, and thenceforward he lived in perpetual 
exile. 

The supremacy of Isagoras in Athens was now disputed by Cleisthenes, son 
of Megacles, a great favourite of the peo})]e, whose prerogatives he constantly 
laboured to enlarge. Isagoras was com})elled to seek aid from the Spartans, 
Corinthians, Bteotians, and others ; but dissensions broke up the alliance, and the 
Spartans soon after made an effort to restore the exiled Hippias. This attempt 
having failed, Hippias was left to his fate. He fled to Persia, and endeavoured to 
persuade Darius to invade Greece. 

In the year after the unsuccessful expedition of Mardonius, heralds were sent 
by command of Darius into the Greek cities to demand the tribute of earth and 
water. At Athens and Sparta the heralds fell victims to the })opular fury ; being 
at one place thrown into a cavern, at another into a well, and told to take thence 
their earth and water. 

Whilst internal dissensions tore the Grecian states, the Persians were preparing 
another expedition for the chastisement of Athens and Erelria, and the reduction 
of the rest of Greece to Asiatic dominion. Mardonius had been recalled, and 
Artaphernes, son of the Satrap of Lydia, was appointed to succeed him. He deter- 
mined rather to cross the TEgean Sea, and reduce the islands in his way, than to 
march by a circuitous route through Thrace and Macedonia. Naxos, where Aris- 
tagoras and the Persians had before been foiled, was the first object of their ven- 
geance. The inhabitants, dismayed at the appearance of the large armament, fled 
to the mountains, whilst the Persians burnt the town and the temple. All the 
other islands submitted, and gave hostages, until the fleet arrived at Carystus, in 
Euboea, the inhabitants of which refused obedience. Their city was invested, and 
their lands ravaged until it surrendered. Meanwhile the Eretrians had applied to 
the Athenians for aid, and that people ordered four thousand of their subjects who 
had been settled on the territory of Chalcis, to join their arms with the Eretrians, 
who might have profited by this addition to their strength, but for their divided 
and desponding state. An honest but timid party of the citizens were in favour of 
imitating the example of the Naxians, in flying to the mountains, whilst others, 
less patriotic, were inclined treacherously to give the enemy possession of their 
city. Under these circumstances, the Athenians, by the advice of one of the lead- 
ing Eretrians, returned to Attica to assist Athens in avoiding the coming storm. 



196 GREECE. 

The Eretrians finally determined to abide the result of a siege, which was quickly 
formed by the Persians. The city held out for six days, when it was betrayed to 
the besiegem by two of its principal citizens. The inhabitants were reduced to 
slavery, and the city, with its temples, plundered, burned, and razed to the ground. 

With the aged exile Hippias for their guide, the Persians approached the 
frontier of Attica, before any preparations for their reception had been made by the 
Greeks. A remarkably swift messenger, named Phidippides, was now despatched 
by the Athenians to Sparta, with the intelligence of the capture of Eretria, and a 
request for assistance for themselves. He reached Sparta on the next day after he 
left Athens, and the Lacedaemonians readily promised their utmost aid ; but in 
compliance with a superstitious custom, declared that they could not commence 
their march before the full moon, of which it yet wanted five days. 

As a consolation to his fellow -citizens for their disappointment, Phidippides 
gave them assurances of aid from an invisible hand. The god Pan, he said, had 
sent the Athenians a gracious reproach for their neglect of his worship, and a pro- 
mise of his aid and good will in the approaching contest. Athens, however, had a 
commander equal to the emergency, Miltiades, the late ruler of the Chersonesus, 
was now high in the confidence of the Athenians. Some slight services which he 
had rendered to the state while in Chersonesus, had saved his life when tried on 
a charge of tyranny ; and such w-as the estimation in which he was held, that the 
polemarch decided, at his suggestion, to risk the fate of the city on a battle, and 
four of the ten generals made over to him their days of command. When his 
own day arrived, he led the forces of the Greeks against the host of Persia, com- 
prising about five times their number of veteran troops. They ran to meet the 
foe, without arrows or missile weapons, though well armed for close combat. 
Their wings were purposely made much stronger than the centre, which, after a 
short struggle, was obliged to fly before the Persian veterans. But the enemy's 
wings were broken by the Athenians and Plataeans, who abstained from too close 
pursuit, united their forces, and turned upon the centre of the enemy, which had 
followed the retreating Grecians up the country. This body being attacked when 
almost exhausted in the ardour of pursuit, was easily routed, and forced to fly to 
the sea, with an immense loss. The Athenians succeeded in obtaining possession 
of seven of the enemy's vessels, in attempting to secure one of which, Cynaeo-irus, 
the brother of the poet ^Eschylus, gained immortal glory by a remarkable display 
of courage, in which he lost his hand, which was severed from the arm with an 
axe. Callimachus, Stesilaus, and many other eminent Athenian officers, desirous 
of inspiring their countrymen by their own deeds of valour, fell victims to their 
patriotism on the field of Marathon. One instance recorded by cotemporaneous 
historians illustrates the spirit of the times. 

An Athenian soldier, notwithstanding the fatigue of so long a conflict, wish- 
ing to bear to his fellow-citizens the first news of their safety, set off from the field 
of battle at full speed, arrived in the presence of the archons, announced the vic- 
tory, and fell dead at their feet. 




«E>«-g« ° ^'^^^■'O'-^ — r:^^g^)=.^-^ 



CATTLE OF MARATHON. 



199 




TUMULUS AT MARA.THON. 



The Persians embarked on board their fleet, and sailed for Athens, in the 
hope of surprising it during the absence of its defenders ; but they were anticipated 
by Miltiades, who, making a forced march, arrived in the city before the fleet hove 
in sight. Foiled in this attempt, they returned to the Persian capital, carrying 
with them their Eretrian captives, who were established as a colony on an estate 
belonging to the monarch. 

The reinforcement of 2,000 men sent by the Spartans to the aid of Athens, 
marched with such haste to atone for the tardiness of their commonwealth, that they 
arrived in Athens on the third day. They were, however, too late for the battle, 
but visited the field to view the dead, and then returned to their homes, giving due 
praise to the Athenians as the first to check the victories of Persia. The popula- 
rity and influence of Miltiades now rose to such a height, that he confidently 



* We copy from Dr. Wordsworth's splendid work on Greece, a view of the tumulus 
erected on the plain of Marathon, to commemorate this victory, as well as to mark the spot 
where its heroes were buried. We are indebted to the same work for many other illustrations 
of Grecian history, as well as for the following appropriate remarks on the tumulus. 

" To bury these heroes on the spot where they fell, was wise and noble. The body of Cal- 
limachup, the leader of the right wing, was interred among them ; and as they fought, arranged 
by tribes, in the field, so they now lie in the same order in this tomb. Even the spectator of 
these days, who comes from a distant land, will feel an emotion of awe when looking upon 
tliis grand and simple monument, with which he seems, as it were, to be left alone on this 
wide and solitary plain ; nor will he wonder that the ancient inhabitants of this place revered 
those who lie beneath it as beings more than human, — that they heard the sound of arms and 
the neigiiing of horses around it in the gloom of the night, and that the greatest orator of the 
Ancient World swore by those who lay buried at Marathon, as if they were gods." 



200 GREECE. 

asked of the people a fleet of seventy ships, promising that he would bring great 
riches to Athens. His request was granted, and he sailed to Paros, where he was 
wounded in an unjustifiable and unsuccessful attack upon its walls. On his return 
to Athens, he was brought to trial for his life by Xanthippus, on account of his 
failure to perform his promise to the people ; he was defended by his brother, who 
eloquently recalled the memory of his services ; the people were prevailed on to 
absolve him from the charge, but they fined him fifty talents, about $50,000. He 
died soon after of his wound, and his son Ciraon paid the fine. 

Nine years after the battle of Marathon, Xerxes, the son of Darius Hystaspes, 
resolved to attempt the conquest of Greece, and collected for this purpose an army, 
which, making proper allowances for the exaggerations of prejudiced Greek histo- 
rians, appears to have been the largest ever assembled. To prevent the disasters 
which might attend the transportation of the armament by sea, a canal, navigable 
for the largest galleys, was formed across the whole isthmus, which joins Mount 
Athos to the continent of Thrace. Two bridges of boats were also extended 
across the Hellespont, one of which was intended to withstand the force of the 
winds, the other that of the waves. Early in the spring, B.C. 480, the army 
moved from the rendezvous at Sardis, and employed seven days and nights in pass- 
ing the bridges of the Hellespont. Herodotus estimates the number of effectives 
in the army at 1,700,000 infantry, 80,000 cavalry, and an almost incredible num- 
ber of attendants and followers. The fleet comprised 1207 ships of war, manned by 
nearly 280,000 men, and about 3000 transports, store-ships, and other smaller ves- 
sels, the crews of which numbered 240,000. The march of this vast host was 
unimpeded until it reached the pass of Thermopylae, on the road from Thessaly to 
Greece, where a band of about five thousand Greeks, under Leonidas, King of 
Sparta, had resolved to dispute its passage. At this critical moment both Sparta 
and Athens happily possessed leaders of the most extraordinary talents, warriors 
peculiarly fitted to conduct the arduous contest. In Sparta the wild Cleomenes 
had been succeeded by his brother Leonidas : Athens possessed several great men 
equal to the occasion ; but one was now the soul of her councils. The chance 
which deprived her of Miltiades had perhaps been fortunate, since it made room 
for a man still better suited to the emergency — for Themistocles. " The laurels 
of Miltiades will not let me sleep," said this ambitious man to a friend, after the 
battle of Marathon. His passion for military renown was the mainspring of his 
actions; for this he courted the populace, — for this he caused the banishment 
of Aristides. The peculiar faculty of his mind, which Thucydides contemplated 
with admiration, was the quickness with which it seized every object that came in 
its way, perceived the course of action required by new situations and sudden junc- 
tures, and penetrated into remote consequences. Such were the abilities which at 
this period w^ere most needed for the service of Athens. Aristides appears through- 
out the whole course of his history, as one of the few men who have not merely 
abstained from wrong, but have loved right, truth, and equity, and hated and re- 
sisted all things opposed to them with the steadiness of instinct. He too, like 



BATTLE OF T II E R M O P Y L .4=: . 201 

Themistocles, had the welfare of Athens at heart, but simply and singly, not as an 
instrument, but as an end. On this he kept his eye, without looking to any mark 
beyond it, or stooping to any private advantages that lay on his road. Such a 
character rarely fails to raise up enemies to its possessor, and we find Aristides, 
the Just, without having incurred accusation or reproach, without being suspected 
of any ambitious designs, sent by the ostracism into honourable banishment, because 
he had no equal in the highest virtue. A story is related of him, that he assisted 
an illiterate countrymen in writing his own name on one of the sherds that con- 
demned him.* 

Left in undivided possession of the popular favour, Themistocles prevailed on 
the people to make a great personal sacrifice for the general good. He had long 
looked to the maritime power as the means by which Athens must rise to a new 
rank among the states of Greece, and he seized the occasion of an uncommonly 
large yield of the silver mines of Laurion, to induce these people to give their ac- 
customed share of the profits for the building and equipping of a hundred new 
galleys, under pretence of being thereby enabled to cope with their maritime ene- 
mies, the iEginetans. The wisdom of this measure will hereafter appear. The 
second invasion, however, caused a suspension of the hostilities between Athens 
and yEgina. Xerxes fixed his head-quarters at the town of Traches, in the Malian 
plain, where he waited four days, expecting that the little army would yield to his 
numbers and retire. A herald was also despatched to Leonidas, who commanded, 
requiring him to deliver up his arms. " Come and take them," was the character- 
istic reply of the Spartan. On the fifth day, Xerxes ordered the Medes and Cis- 
sians of his army to bring Leonidas and his band into his presence. They were 
quickly repulsed, and the Persian guards, called " the immortal band," were led 
on to the attack. 

Their numbers were unavailing on so narrow a field. Their short spears 
were inferior in close fight to the longer weapons of the Greeks, and their repeated 
and courageous eflTorts made no impression. Wounds and fatigue were expected 
to exhaust the little army of the Greeks, and therefore the attack was renewed on 
the following day, but with no better success. On the morning of the third day, 
however, a Persian detachment having surprised a guard of Phocaans, showed 
itself far in the rear of the Grecian band. When information of this fatal disad- 
vantage was conveyed to Leonidas, it was determined that all should retreat to 
their respective cities, to preserve their lives for the future wants of their country. 
But a law of Sparta forbade her soldiers, under whatever disadvantage, to flee 
from an enemy. Leonidas resolved to yield obedience to his country's law. To 
their everlasting honour every Spartan resolved to abide the result with him, and 
of seven hundred men, probably the whole force of the little commonwealth of 
Thespia, not one was found recreant to the cause of Grecian liberty. The Thes- 
pians, the three hundred Laceda3monians, and four hundred Thebans whom they 

* Tliirlwall. 
Vol. L 26 



202 GREECE. 

detained rather as hostages for the continuance of their city in the league than as 
auxiliaries, advanced to meet the enemy with the firm resolution of men about to 
sell their lives as dearly as possible. Stationing his army at the wall of Thermo- 
pylae, where the pass was but fifty feet wide, he made a dreadful slaughter of the 
crowded and undisciplined multitude. Many were forced into the sea, whilst 
others were crushed to death by the pressure of their own people. Leonidas fell 
early in the fight, but every Lacedaemonian and Thespian was a Leonidas himself, 
and they resolutely fought against the thousands of their enemies with great disad- 
vantages, until the other detachment came in sight of their rear. They then re- 
treated to the narrowest part of the pass, where the Thebans began to sue for 
mercy, and were nearly all taken prisoners. The survivors gained a little rising 
ground, where they fought unceasingly in the midst of a surrounding host, till not 
a man was left. 

The names of the three hundred Spartans were preserved in the time of Hero- 
dotus. Two of them survived the battle, having been accidentally absent ; Aris- 
todemus, who was, with the prince's leave, for the recovery of his health, at Alpeni, 
and Pantites, sent on public business in Thessaly. But when it was reported at 
Lacedaimon, that Eurytus, who had also been at Alpeni on account of sickness, 
had joined on the day of the battle, and fallen with his comrades, and that Pan- 
tites might have so hastened his return as to have shared in the glory of the day, 
both Aristodemusand Pantites were dishonoured. The latter, in consequence, stran- 
gled himself; but Aristodemus wisely resolved to live, and finally was happy 
enough to find an opportunity for distinguishing his courage in the cause of his 
country, so as completely to retrieve his reputation. 

The territory of Athens being thus left unprotected, Themistocles formed and 
executed a plan for the abandonment of the city, and the embarkation of all the 
hopes and fortunes of the citizens on board the fleet. The infirm and the aged, 
the women and the children, were sent to Trcezene, while all capable of bearing- 
arras retired to the island of Salamis. Xerxes, with the flower of his army, 
advanced towards the city, which he found to be occupied by a few who had pre- 
ferred remaining. These attempted to defend the citadel, but they were overpow- 
ered, and put to the sword, and the destruction of the city was commenced by 
burning the citadel and the temple of Minerva, while Xerxes sent an express to 
Persia to announce his success. 

The commanders of the confederate fleet were in council at Salamis, when 
they learned the fate of Athens; and so great was their terror, that many advised 
an immediate flight. Eurybiades, the Spartan admiral, coincided with the general 
sentiment; but Themistocles represented to him that he saw that the only chance 
of safety consisted in remaining together. A dispute arising between Themistocles 
and Eurybiades, the latter became offended at the warmth of the Athenian, and 
lifted up his cane. " Strike, but hear me," said Themistocles, coolly. Eurybia- 
des heard, and consented to call a council of the commanders of the fleet, in which 
Themistocles carried his point. But when, shortly after, the Persian fleet began to 






■ 2 <:■ -i 




iMv^><to«©sy*Ji&*«'^ W^^^t^y -v^- V - ^■'- 



n A T T L E OF S A L A M I S 



205 



approach, their courage again wavered, and a general incHnation prevailed to set 
sail immediately for the isthmus. But Themistocles sent a Persian captive to 
Xerxes, expressing his attachment to that monarch, informing him of the intended 
retreat of the Greeks, and advising him to send two hundred vessels round the 
islands of /Egina and Salamis, which might prevent the intended escape by placing 
themselves in the rear of the confederates. The news of the success of this strata- 
gem was brought by Aristides, who had been actively employed in arming the 
Greeks for the national cause, and who had made his way with difficulty under 
cover of the night through the Persian fleet. From that hour all rivalry between 
these ffreat men was at an end. 




BATTLS OF SALAMIS. 



Themistocles commenced the fight by bearing down upon the enemy in his 
galley. The onset was terrific, but the Greeks soon had the advantage, and the 
sea itself was scarcely visible for the quantity of broken wrecks and dying bodies 
which strewed it. While the naval combat continued, a body of Persian infantry 
was surrounded and cut to pieces by Aristides, who did not command a ship, but 
was stationed on shore, watching an opportunity of ministering to the victory from 
which his successful rival was to reap praise and power. Xerxes had witnessed 
the engagement, from a throne erected on a lofty promontory, overlooking the 
sea. The miserable remnant of the Persian fleet sailed away to the Hellespont, 
whither Xerxes, accompanied by a chosen body of troops, proceeded by land. 
Ilis bridge of boats had been destroyed by tempests, and some writers state that 
the mighty monarch recrossed the channel, almost alone, in an open boat. Three 
hundred thousand men were left to prosecute the war under the command of Mar- 



206 (GREECE. 

donius. From his winter-quarters in Thessaly, that general sent the king of 
Macedon to induce the Athenians to desert the allies who had so unwilhngly aided 
them before, and who now appeared about to commit Athens to the mercy of the 
Persians, while they constructed a wall for defence across the isthmus. But the 
Athenian leaders refused to listen to his offers, and their city again fell into the 
hands of the Persians. But the Spartans became ashamed of their conduct, and 
sent an army of 5000 Spartans and 3500 helots to the aid of their countrymen. 
The other Peloponnesian allies, and the Athenians under Aristides, met them at the 
isthmus, and a battle ensued soon after near the city of Plata?a, in which Mardo- 
nius was killed, and his army defeated and almost totally annihilated. Artabazus, 
who assumed the command on the fall of Mardonius, succeeded in escaping to the 
Hellespont with 40,000 men, who were not engaged in the battle. On the same 
day that the land forces of the Persians were destroyed at Plataea, a similar fate 
overtook their navy at Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor. To prevent his ves- 
sels from falling into the hands of his enemies, the Persian admiral had drawn them 
upon the shore, where they were enclosed by a fortified wall, and protected by a 
Persian army. But the Greeks, under Xanthippus, an Athenian, and Leotycheides, 
King of Sparta, landed on the coast, routed the army, and burned the fleet. 

During the succeeding half-century, under the wise direction given to affairs 
by Themistocles, Athens attained the highest glory and honour. Meeting the 
duplicity and intrigues of the Spartans with similar weapons, he succeeded against 
their will in rebuilding the defences of the city, fortifying the harbour of the 
Piraeus, and joining it to the city by the long walls. Meanwhile, the war between 
the Greeks and Persians still continued. At the head of the confederate fleet, 
Pausanias had made extensive conquests in the ^gean Sea and on the coast of 
Thrace. Even the strong city of Byzantium, with many noble captives, fell into 
his hands. These prisoners bought their freedom with large sums of money, 
much of which came into the possession of the Spartan admiral, and so elated his 
pride, that he conceived a scheme for enslaving all Greece, and holding it as a fief 
of the Persian empire. But his ambitious plans were ill concealed, and he was sud- 
denly recalled by the Spartan senate and tried for treason. He escaped the first time 
by bribing the judges, but fresh evidence was obtained against him, and he fled to the 
temple of Minerva for safety. Not daring to drag him from the sanctuary, the 
Spartans blocked up the doors with huge stones, stripped off the roof, and left him 
to perish by cold and hunger. In consequence of the tyranny of Pausanias, the 
Spartans were deprived of the supremacy at sea, and the Athenians were chosen to 
lead the naval confederacy of the islands and colonies. Aristides was elected trea- 
surer of the allies, and to prevent any complaints, he selected the island of Delos 
as the point of reunion and the sanctuary where their contributions should be 
deposited under the protection of Apollo.* When the treason of Pausanias became 
known, the Lacedaemonians sent ambassadors to Athens to declare that they had 

* Taylor. 



T II E M I S T O C I. E S. 



207 



evidence to implicate Themistocles in his guilt. Though he may have been ac- 
quainted with the plot, yet it is not probable that he concurred in it, and at any 
other time but little notice would have been taken of the charge ; but envy had 
raised up for him many enemies among the Athenians, who succeeded in banishing 
him by ostracism. He retired to Argos, but being pursued in his exile by the 




malice of his enemies, he wandered from place to place, till at last he reached the 
court of the king of Persia. There he threw himself on the mercy of Artaxerxes 
Longimanus, who received him with favour, and assigned the revenues of three 
citits for his support. He lived in great splendour during the remainder of his life ; 
but poisoned himself when Artaxerxes prepared an expedition against the liberties 
of Greece, in which he was expected to bear a part. Aristides died about the 
same time, universally lamented. Such was the honesty with which he directed 
the management of the public funds, that when he died he left not enough money 
to pay his funeral expenses. These were assumed by the state, which also pro- 
vided for completing the education of his son and portioning his daughters. 

The whole power at Athens now came into the hands of Cimon, the son of 
Miltiades, a man in whom were united the probity of Aristides with the wisdom 
and valour of Themistocles. He always favoured the aristocracy, and obtained 
the surname of Philolacon, from his attachment to Sparta. He made a liberal dis- 
tribution of the wealth obtained by his conquests in Thrace and Asia Minor, kept 
a public table, and allowed an indiscriminate admission to his farms and gardens, 

A continual and successful war was meanwhile carried on against Persia and 
all who adhered to her cause by Athens. After Cyprus was wrested from them, 



208 GREECE. 

and while Byzantium was besieged by Pausanias, Cimon succeeded in completely 
expelling them from Thrace, Caria, and Lycia. He was then proceeding to attack 
Pamphylia, but the formidable fleet and army fitted out by Artaxerxes for the pre- 
servation of his provinces, required his attention. The Persian army was en- 
camped on the banks of the Eurymedon, off whose mouth the fleet, consisting of 
nearly 400 sail, was stationed. Cimon sailed witli 250 galleys, attacked the fleet, 
sunk a great part, and captured the remainder, which had sought protection in the 
island of Cyprus. On board this fleet were 20,000 Persian soldiers, whose dresses 
were given to as many Athenians. With these he sailed back to the Eurymedon, 
before the news of his victory reached the Persian camp, marched boldly into it, 
and suddenly attacked the groups of soldiers hastening to receive an account of 
the sea-fight. He succeeded in making the greater part of the army prisoners, 
and cutting in pieces the remainder. These two victories, gained on the same day, 
gave immense booty, and the highest glory to a commander who thus proved himself 
worthy of his ancestry. 

The maritime supremacy of Athens was riveted by an arrangement which 
was soon after made. The fleet of Greece had hitherto been composed of the 
quotas of the several states under Athenian commanders. These states were weary 
of the expense of furnishing ships and men, and Athens agreed to supply them 
herself for a moderate amount of money. The states assented ; but Athens, once 
possessed of the whole naval power of Greece, raised the portion to be paid by 
each state at will. Egypt having revolted against the Persians, the Athenians 
undertook to aid them ; but though victorious at first, they were in the end unsuc- 
cessful. Cimon had been banished from Athens by ostracism about two years after 
his return from Messenia, whither he had led an Athenian army to join the Spar- 
tans in besieging Ithome, which had again rebelled. He was afterwards recalled, 
and sent with a fleet against Cyprus, which had been recaptured by the Persians, 
He applied himself vigorously to the task, and would probably have been attended 
with his usual success, but for his death by illness or the consequences of a wound 
in the harbour of Citium, to which place he was laying siege. His unconquerable 
spirit, however, seemed to have animated the whole fleet, which, on sailing home 
with his remains, gained a double victory over the fleet and army of the allied 
Phoenicians and Cilicians. 

The Persian monarch, finding nothing but defeat attend his arms in the Athe- 
nian war, proposed a peace. The Athenians procured the most honourable terms. 
The independence of the Grecian colonies in Asia Minor was acknowledged, and 
the Persian ships were excluded from all the Grecian seas. Thus terminated the 
Persian war, which had continued, with scarcely any intermission, for fifty years. 

The Lacedaemonians had not been inattentive or inactive observers of the 
growth of the rival state ; but an earthquake which destroyed many of the citizens 
and reduced Sparta to a heap of ruins, threw all their affairs into a confusion, 
which was not a little increased by a revolt of the helots. Failing to surprise and 
exterminate their oppressors, the helots, who were principally descended fiom the 



PERICLES. 209 

ancient Messenians, seized on the fortress of Ithome. Here they supported them- 
selves against the combined efforts of the Spartans and Athenians for ten years, 
when they surrendered on condition of being allowed to leave the isthmus. 

The ingratitude manifested by the Spartans to the Athenians, who had come 
to aid them in their distress, was one of the chief causes of that mutual animosity 
which led to the Peloponnesian war. The Messenians were generously received 
by the Athenians, who established them at Naupactus, on the Corinthian Gulf, 
which had lately been taken from the Locrians. 

The Argians seized this opportunity to lay siege to Mycense, which had gone 
over to Sparta, and succeeded in taking it after some resistance. The people were 
made slaves, and the town itself reduced to a mass of ruins, never to be rebuilt. 

Many of the Theban states had thrown off their yoke, and sought the pro- 
tection of Athens. Sparta embraced the cause of the capital, and sent an army 
into Boeotia. 

Athens had now attained the summit of her greatness, under the administra- 
tion of Pericles, whose father was Xanthippus, a distinguished Athenian general. 
His principal guide in study was Anaxagoras, the philosopher, with whom he was 
long united in intimate friendship. " Not only his public and private deportment, 
and his habits of thought, but the tone and style of his eloquence were believed to 
have been formed by his intercourse with Anaxagoras."* Though connected by 
family relations with the aristocracy, Pericles aimed only to gain the favour of the 
populace. Not being a member of the Areopagus himself, he used all his influence 
to weaken its power, and procured the passage of a decree transferring the inves- 
tigation and decision of most cases to other courts. So elevated and powerful 
was his eloquence, that it was said of him that he thundered and lightened in his 
speeches, and his countrymen called him the Olympian. He carefully avoided all 
that could displease the people, and even submitted to indignities with patience. 
A common citizen followed him with reviling and execration from a popular assem- 
bly to his house ; he ordered a servant to light the man home with a torch. At 
length the popular party procured the banishment of Cimon, and Pericles re- 
mained sole ruler of Athens. He provided for the wants of the needy from the 
public treasury. He adorned the city with the most splendid monuments of archi- 
tecture, painting, and sculpture, by great public works flattering the vanity of the 
Athenians, beautifying the city, and employing many labourers and artists. To 
defray the expense of these undertakings, he caused the public treasury of Greece to 
be removed from Delos, where it had been placed by Aristides, to Athens. Find- 
ing that the Spartans were supporting the cause of Thebes against the revolted 
states, Pericles sent a body of troops across the isthmus to cut off their retreat. 
The Spartans gained a victory at Tanagra, but were defeated at the same place in 
the following year, B.C. 457. At the same time the coasts of Peloponnesus were 
ravaged by the Athenians. But Tolmidas having failed in an attempt on Thebes 

* Thirlwall. 
Vol. I. 27 



2J0 



G R E E C E. 




^Wl/yt^-^m-"—^ ~ 



at the head of an Athenian army, the ardour of the republic was checked, and 
Ciraon, who had been recalled from exile, concluded a truce wuth Sparta for five 
years, B.C. 450. 

During the continuance of the truce, Athens lost all supremacy in Boeotia, in 
consequence of the failure of an expedition led by Tolmidas against Chseronea, 
which had rejected the deraocratical government, and espoused the Spartan side of 
the contest. Hostilities were recommenced with a quick succession of attacks from 
the allies, which, though unsuccessful, excited much alarm at Athens, and disposed 
the people to peace. Sparta had also gained little by the war, and a truce for 
thirty years was therefore concluded between the two states, and the confederacies 
over which they presided. But such was the unsettled state of colonial relations 
among the Greeks, and so frequent the quarrels of the smaller commonwealths, 
that any long period of tranquillity could not be expected. The continual jea- 



PEL()PONi\ ESIAN WAR. 211 

lousy of the rival confederacies at length gave rise to the long and bloody contest 
of the Peloponnesian war. 

Athens now formed the metropolis of an extensive territory, which some of 
the ancients have denominated a kingdom. In that narrow space of time which 
intervened between the battle of Mycale and the memorable war of Peloponnesus, 
Athens had established her authority over an extent of more than a thousand miles 
of the Asiatic coast, from Cyprus to the Thracian Bosphorus ; taken possession of 
forty intermediate islands, together with the important straits which join the Eux- 
ine anil the i^ilgean Sea, conquered and colonized the winding shores of Thrace 
and Macedon ; commanded the coast of the Euxine from Pontus to the Tauric 
Chersonese, and overawing the barbarous natives by the experienced terrors of 
her fleet, at the same time rendered subservient to her own interests the colonies 
which Miletus and other Greek cities in Asia had established in those remote re- 
gions. Thus the Athenian galleys commanded the eastern coast of the Mediter- 
ranean ; their merchantmen had engrossed the traffic of the adjacent countries ; the 
magazines of Athens abounded with wood, metal, ebony, ivory, and all the mate- 
rials of the useful as well as the agreeable arts ; they imported the luxuries of Italy, 
Sicily, Cyprus, Lydia, Pontus, and the Peloponnesus.* 

The Athenians having assisted the Corcyrseans against the Corinthians, and 
attacked Potidaea, which had asserted its independence, were formally accused by 
the inhabitants of Corinth, joined by many other complainants, of having broken 
the truce and insulted the confederacy of Peloponnesus. An assembly of deputies 
from the different states, of which that confederacy was composed, having met at 
Sparta, a great majority decided to have immediate recourse to arms, and accord- 
ing to the admission of Thucydides, a general sentiment of indignation had been 
excited among the people of Greece, in consequence of the arbitrary and oppres- 
sive sway exercised over them by the Athenian republic. 

The Peloponnesian war began by an unsuccessful attempt on the part of the 
Thebans to surprise Plataea, B.C. 431. Almost all Greece took part in the quar- 
rel. Many of the continental states sided with Sparta, which was most powerful 
by land. Argos and its dependencies, however, stood neutral, whilst Acarnania 
and Plataea espoused the side of the Athenians, who were also assisted rather 
through fear than affection by all the maritime states, including the islands and the 
coast of Asia Minor. Chios, Lesbos, and Corey ra furnished vessels ; the rest, 
money and men. The Lacedsemonians availed themselves of their superiority on 
land by marching immediately into Attica, while the Athenians desolated the 
country and sought refuge behind the walls of the city. Thence they sent an 
armament to ravage the coasts of Peloponnesus. In consequence of this measure, 
and the difficulty of subsisting so large a force, the confederate army finally with- 
drew. In the next summer, Attica was again invaded, and Pericles pursued the 
same measures. This year, however, was rendered much more calamitous, by a 

* Til y I or. 



212 



GREECE. 




I- E K 1 C L E ■ 



dreadful plague which broke out in Athens, and swept 
multitudes to the grave. Among its many victhns was 
Pericles, who died in the third year of the war, at a time 
when his services were most needed, B.C. 429. He 
had previously lost his two legitimate sons, his sister, 
and many of his best friends. An additional disaster, 
the revolt of Lesbos, soon after fell upon Athens. 
When informed of the defection, the Athenians made 
every exertion to crush their new enemy. Mitylene, 
the capital of the island, was blockaded while the Lace- 
daemonians were building a fleet for its relief. But the 
measures of the Spartans were so dilatory, that the 
Mityleneans were obliged to surrender on the hard 
condition of their lives being spared only till they could 
have an opportunity of imploring the mercy of Athens. The Athenians at first 
decreed that all the Mityleneans fit to bear arms should be put to death, and the 
remainder sold into slavery ; but on the next day they relented, and the barba- 
rous decree was repealed. 

Meantime Corcyra was ravaged by the most horrible dissensions, which ended 
in the party favourable to Athens gaining the ascendency. The allies of Lace- 
dsemon in iEtolia and Epirus were soon after defeated by an Athenian army under 
Demosthenes, and the enraged Peloponnesians, at the beginning of the summer of 
425 B.C., invaded Attica for the fifth time. At the same time, the Athenians, 
who had long contemplated an expedition to Sicily, sent a fleet to aid the Leontini 
in a w^ar with Syracuse. Demosthenes accompanied this fleet, in order to act, as 
occasion might offer, on the coast of Peloponnesus. A storm having driven them 
near Pylus, they resolved to fortify it. The Lacedaemonians, alarmed at this 
scheme, quickly assembled their forces in an attempt to crush it. Their fleet was 
defeated, their army repulsed, and a body of 400 Spartans, which had been 
thrown into Sphacteria, a small island opposite the harbour, were blockaded there, 
and ultimately taken prisoners by Cleon and Demosthenes. 

Elated with their good fortune, the Athenians now neglected the advice of 
Pericles, and thought only of extending their power in every direction. Nicias 
succeeded in taking the important island of Cythera, on the south-east coast of 
Laconia. Nissea, the seaport of Megara, soon after fell into their hands, and the 
whole coast of Peloponnesus was continually ravaged by them. But fortune soon 
changed sides ; the smaller towns of Boeotia wished to throw off" the dominion of 
Thebes, and a scheme was concocted for their aid. An Athenian army invaded 
Bceotia, but was shamefully defeated at Delium by the allies, who had discovered 
the plan and resolved to frustrate it. The fortress of Delium soon after fell into 
the hands of the Thebans. The Athenians experienced a still greater loss on the 
coast of Macedonia and Thrace, The principal towns of the peninsula of Chalci- 
dice entered into a league with Sparta, Brasidas led a small Macedonian force 



ALCIBIADES. 213 

to their aid, and succeeded in effecting a series of enterprises of the most daring 
character. Not the least important of these was the capture of Amphipolis, a 
town wiiich commanded the navigation of the river Strymon, and the access into 
the interior of Thrace. Thucydides, the historian, who had commanded on that 
station, though with an inadequate force, was recalled and banished by his enraged 
countrymen. 

The Athenian expedition to Sicily was abandoned after some operations of no 
great importance, in consequence of a general pacification of the island, which was 
effected through the influence of Hermocrates of Syracuse. A truce for a year 
was concluded between the two rival powers, in 423 B.C., but was broken in the 
following year. A respectable force was despatched under Cleon, to coi)e with 
Brasidas. Having exalted his opinion of his own bravery by taking the towns of 
Menda and Torone, Cleon ventured to make a rash attack on Amphipolis. But 
his army was totally defeated and himself slain. The defeat of the Athenians, 
however, was amply compensated by the death of Cleon. Brasidas also fell in the 
conflict. The Athenians, humbled by their losses, and having no longer Cleon to 
urge them on to violent measures, concluded under the ausj)ices of Nicias a treaty 
of peace with Lacedsemon, B.C. 421. The terms were a mutual restitution of all 
conquests made during the war, and the release of the prisoners taken at Sphac- 
teria. The Corinthians, Boeotians, Eleans, and Megareans, however, refused to 
ratify this treaty. Difficulties soon arose in consequence of the discovery that 
Sparta was unable to perform what she had promised, while the Athenians insisted 
on its fulfilment. Fearing lest some of the states under her authority might go over 
to Athens, Sparta concluded a treaty with the latter power. Her motives for this 
alliance were but too partially concealed, the jealousy of the other states was 
excited, and new intrigues were commenced for the formation of a confederacy 
with Argos at its head. An attempt was made without success to draw Sparta 
into this alliance; but by means of an artifice of Alcibiades, a similar application to 
the Athenians resulted in a union offensive and defensive of Athens with Argos, 
Elis, and Mantinea, for a hundred years, B.C. 420. The authority of Nicias had 
fallen before the rising popularity of Alcibiades, whose oratorical powers, gentle- 
manly manners, and military talents, were unrivalled in his age, but whose total 
want of principle rendered his other acquirements the cause of the ruin of himself and 
of his country. At the siege of Potidffia, he had served with Socrates under Phor- 
mio, and in one of the engagements which took place during the siege, Alcibiades, 
severely wounded, was rescued from the enemy by Socrates. They were again 
comrades at the battle of Delium, and Alcibiades, who was mounted, had an oppor- 
tunity of protecting his friend from their pursuers. But this intimacy produced no 
lasting fruits. Alcibiades forced himself away from the feet of Socrates, and chose 
Themistocles for his model.* Two years after Athens joined the Argive confede- 
racy, it was broken up by defeat at the battle of Mantinea, and a peace, 

* Thirl wall. 



214 



G R E E C E. 




which was quickly followecl by an alliance, was made between Argos and Sparta. 
The island of Melos, the finest of the Cyclades, was next unjustly attacked. It 
had maintained a strict neutrality during the war, but was nevertheless invaded by 
the Athenians. The Melians made a long and vigorous resistance, but their island 
was at length taken, all the males over fourteen years of age were put to death, 
and the remainder sold into slavery. 

Alcibiades next persuaded the people, without any other reason than that the 
city Egesta, in Sicily, had solicited the assistance of the Athenians, to undertake 
the conquest of that island ; but scarcely had the expedition in which he was 
appointed a commander commenced its operations, when he was recalled to stand his 
trial upon a charge of impiety. Apprehending danger from the well-known 
caprice of his countrymen, he took refuge in Peloponnesus, and was soon after so 
incensed by the sentence of the Athenians against him, that he instigated the Spar- 



FA LL OF ATIIFNS. 215 

tans to aiil llie Sicilians while with their allies they invaded Attica. His advice 
was followed: the Sicilian expedition terminated most disastrously for Athens, the 
fleet being taken, the generals slain, and the army put to death or imprisoned, 
B.C. 4io. But Alcibiades having been expelled from Sparta, on account of his 
licentiousness, went over to the Athenian interest, and succeeded in securing the 
alliance of Persia. Being raised to the chief command by the people, he recovered 
many of the lost colonies, defeated the allied fleet, and so alarmed the Lacedaemo- 
nians, that they were ready to treat for peace. But the Athenians were intoxi- 
cated \vith success, and they prolonged the war. Failing to profit by experience, 
they soon after banished from their city the man who had wrought such a change 
in their fortunes. The result, as might have been expected, proved fatal to Athens. 
Elated with a victory gained over the Spartan fleet at Arginusa?, the commanders 
threw aside all the restraints of discipline and caution. Having anchored in the 
river of ^Egos Potamos, on the Thracian side of the Bosphorus, they were attacked 
by the Spartans under one of the greatest of their leaders, Lysander. Abandoned 
to exultation and security, the crew^s of the vessels were wandering at great dis- 
tances on the shore. In consequence, the whole fleet, of 180 galleys, with the excep- 
tion of nine, which escaped by timely flight, fell into the hands of the enemy. The 
commander and 3000 of the best citizens of Athens fell victims to the ferocity of 
their captors. Lysander, being undisputed master of the sea, rapidly reduced all 
the colonies and naval dependencies of Athens. He then blockaded the port of 
the devoted city, whilst the land forces of the confederates surrounded its walls. 
No assault was attempted, and its reduction was left entirely to the sure operation 
of famine. In anticipation of this measure, Lysander had sent the garrisons of all 
the captured cities to the capital. Instead of defending their city with their usual 
bravery, the Athenians seemed only intent on averting the sentence of total 
destruction threatened by some of the confederates. By the intercession of the 
Lacedsemonians, however, they obtained the following terms : 

The democracy was abolished ; the long walls and fortifications of the Piraeus 
destroyed, the chief power was intrusted to thirty persons named by the Spartans; 
all the ships were surrendered but twelve; the claim of the Athenians to colonies 
or foreign possessions was resigned ; and the people bound to follow the standard 
of Sparta in war.* While her citizens, broken-hearted, hid themselves from the 
light of day, the walls of Athens were demolished amid the sound of martial music 
and the shouts of her enemies. 

But Alcibiades had given the Spartans too ample evidence of his power over 
the minds of the Athenians to be spared when his native city had fallen. The 
Spartans instigated the Persian satrap with whom he had taken refuge, to assassi- 
nate him. He fell pierced with a hundred arrows, discharged from the bows of a 
band of hirelings w^ho had applied the firebrand to his house. With him fell the 

* Taylor. 



216 



G R E E C E . 




A. L C 1 B I A D E : 



hopes of the Athenians, who at once abandoned 
themselves to despair, and made no effort to re- 
trieve the ruin of their country. 

The confederates had hailed the downfall of 
Athens as the recovery of the freedom of Greece ; 
but they soon found that they had thereby sub- 
jected themselves to the galling tyranny of the 
Spartans. Lysander proved to be the worst 
oppressor that had ever been raised to power, and 
the Greek cities of Asia would gladly have pre- 
ferred the passive rule of Persia to the avarice 
and cruelty of Sparta. In order to secure her 
power, Lacedaemon had established an oHgarchy of 
her creatures in every state, and supported them 
with arms and money. A Spartan garrison in 
the Acropolis secured and maintained the power 
of the Thirty Tyrants, who set no bounds to their cruelty and rapacity, putting 
to death all who possessed wealth or poUtical influence, and enriching themselves 
by confiscations. They demolished the dock-yards to cripple the commercial enter- 
prise of the people ; all attempts to revive glorious and patriotic recollections and 
emotions were crushed, and instruction in oratory strictly forbidden.* The gene- 
ral alarm spread by these atrocities of the Thirty, drew the attention of Thera- 
menes, one of the number. He was a man notorious for the facihty with which he 
changed sides in the political contests of his day, and the people applied to him a 
nickname expressive of this trait in his character, the name of a shoe which fitted 
either foot. He warned his colleagues of the probable consequences of their 
tyranny, and when they attempted to strengthen themselves in their offices by 
fresh acts of rapacity, he refused to take his share of the guilt and odium. His 
colleagues, aware of his readiness to abandon a party which he believed to be sink- 
ing, and fearful that he might put himself at the head of a new revolution, deter- 
mined to get rid of him speedily. After surrounding the council chamber with 
a daring band of armed followers, Critias, the chief of the Thirty, came forward 
and accused, as a traitor and an enemy to the constitution, his colleague Theramenes, 
who was present. The accused statesman made an able defence, and would per- 
haps have escaped the penalty by a vote of the council, but Critias took the juris- 
diction into his own hands, and condemned him to death. Theramenes upon this 
rushed to the altar of Vesta, which stood in the middle of the room. He said that 
he was aware that the altar would not protect him, and that he had only fled to it 
that the impiety of his enemies might be as manifest as their injustice. He expressed 
his astonishment that the council would allow his life to be thus disposed of, when 
their own might be just as easily sacrificed to the pleasure of Critias. The minis- 



* Taylor. 



FALL OF THE THIRTY. 



217 




THT. RA.1MSNSS DRAGGSD FROM THE ALTA.R BY ORDKR 



C R 1 1 I A S . 



ters of penal justice were now summoned in, and, at the command of Critias, they 
proceeded to drag Theramenes from the altar, in spite of his vehement protesta- 
tions. The councillors remained passive: Theramenes was hurried across the 
agora, and poisoned with hemlock. He dashed the last drops of the poison on the 
ground, in imitation of a sportive convivial usage, to the health, as he said, of his 
beloved Critias.* 

Released from his opposition, the Thirty now proceeded to still more violent 
oppression, and thousands of the Athenians were compelled to seek safety in other 
cities of Greece. 

Though always inimical to Athens, the Thebans now generously received all 
who fled from the oppression of the Thirty Tyrants. A numerous band of exiles 
was soon assembled at Thebes, at the head of which was Thrasybulus, who united 
the most daring valour to uncommon humanity and prudence. Under his guidance 
the oligarchical party was defeated, the ancient constitution restored, and the 
Spartan garrison withdrawn from the city. (403 B.C.) 

By the wise moderation of Thrasybulus, the spirit of retaliation was curbed, 
a general amnesty proclaimed, and tranquillity restored to the Athenian state. But 
though Athens was again governed by her old constitution, the genius and charac- 
ter of her people had greatly deteriorated. While they allowed their poets, for 
their amusement, to ridicule the gods upon the stage, they punished the sages, who 
attempted to introduce among them more worthy sentiments of religion. Among 
these was one who was the master of every kind of knowledge that could then be 
acquired at Athens ; a man whose whole lifie was devoted to the furtherance of piety 



Thirhvall. 



Vol.1.- 



•28 



218 



GREECE. 




TRIAL (>F sue HATES. 



and virtue in the minds of the crowd of listening pupils, which his splendid talents 
drew around him. The cause of justice ever found an advocate in Socrates; in its 
service he had braved the fury of the multitude and the vengeance of the Tyrants. 
His straightforward course had offended many of the Athenians, three of whom, 
Anytus, a tanner and general, Melitus, a poet, and Lycon, an orator, brought him 
to trial on the charge of not believing in the gods which the state believed in, and 
of introducing other new divinities ; and of being, moreover, guilty of corrupting 
the young. The event of the trial mainly turned upon the last count of his indict- 
ment, yEschines asserting that Socrates was put to death because he had been the 
instructor of Critias, the bloodthirsty tyrant, the deadly enemy of the people. Still 
it appears probable that he might have escaped, if his defence had been conducted 
in the usual manner ; but he provoked the court by a deportment which must have 
been interpreted as a sign of profound contempt or insolent defiance. His execu- 
tion was delayed until the return of the Theoris, or sacred vessel, which annually 
carried the offerings of the Athenians to Delos, the sanctuary of Apollo. During 
the interval his friends wished him to embrace the means of escape which they 



XENOPHON. 



219 




K E A T H U F S O C It A T 



would have placed at his command, but he resolutely refused to prolong his life by 
a breach of those laws which he had risked it to defend. When the jailer, with 
averted face, brought to him the hemlock, in the midst of his weeping f. iends, he 
drained the fatal cup with as much composure and as little regret, as the last 
draught of a long and cheerful banquet. (B.C. 399.)* 

About the time of the death of Socrates, one of his disciples was engaged as a 
hireling soldier in the army of the younger Cyrus, who fell at the battle of Cunaxa, 
B.C. 401. Thirteen thousand Greeks were, by the disastrous termination of this 
battle, left almost alone, without other protection than their swords, in the midst 
of a hostile country, to effect a retreat of a thousand miles. Their leaders pro- 
posed terms of accommodation to the Persians, and were invited to a conference 
under pretence of arranging the preliminaries. Here they were mercilessly 
butchered. Undismayed, the soldiers chose Xenophon for their commander, 
repressed all murmuring and insubordination in their ranks, and, under incredible 
hardships, fought their way to the sea-side, whence they reached their native 
country.! Animated by the account of the success of this small army, Agesilaus 



* Tiurhvall. Mitford. Gillies. 



+ Taylor. 



220 GREECE. 

resolved to attempt to recover the liberty of the Greek colonies in Asia Minor. 
Assisted by thirty captains, at whose head was Lysander, he filled all Asia with 
alarm. But the sovereigns of Persia had, by a seasonable distribution of bribes, 
succeeded in turning the arms of these warlike republics against each other. 
Thebes, Athens, Argos, Corinth, Acarnania, Ambracia, Eubcea, part of Thessaly, 
and Chalcidice in Thrace, were all gained to her interests. Reasons for the union 
were sufficiently furnished by the haughty tyranny of LacedEemon ; and the gold 
of Persia readily supplied such arguments as were wanting. The allies sustained 
a severe check in the vicinity of Corinth, and were defeated in a bloody battle by 
Agesilaus at Coronea ; but Pharnabazus, aided by Conon, who had escaped with 
the nine galleys at the time of the destruction of the Athenian fleet at ^Egos Pota- 
mos, defeated the Lacedaemonian fleet, and completely destroyed their influence in 
Asiatic Greece. (393 B.C.) 

They proceeded even to ravage the coasts of Laconia ; and, by assisting the 
Athenians to rebuild the long walls, connecting the city with the Piraeus, again 
laid the foundation of the naval power of Athens. Many vicissitudes and intrigues 
followed before both sides became weary of the war. The Lacedsemonians, though 
still superior in the field, yet destitute of the aid they had formerly derived from 
the treasury of Persia, were straitened in their pecuniary resources, and Pharnaba- 
zus had been succeeded in Lydia by Teribazus, who was favourable to the interests 
of Sparta. By the exertions of Antalcidas, an able Lacedaemonian negotiator, the 
Persian monarch was brought in as mediator, or rather dictator, between the dif- 
ferent states of Greece. A general pacification was made, by the terras of which 
the liberty of the Greek cities was sacrificed, and the independence of all the minor 
republics proclaimed. The Persian monarch and the Spartans took upon them- 
selves to enforce the latter regulation, which was designed to prevent Athens from 
maintaining her superiority over the maritime states, and Thebes from becoming 
mistress of the Boeotian cities. (B.C. 387.) Thus Sparta ignominiously abandoned 
to Persia the colonies of Asia Minor, to which she had successively given freedom. 
Though she stipulated for the freedom of the lesser cities, yet she never executed 
this article herself; and, only insisting on its being executed by others, she made it 
the means of rendering her authority paramount in Greece. But Athens being 
allowed to retain her possessions, made no movement.* 

Sparta now proceeded, under the guidance of Agesilaus, to extend her usurpa- 
tions over the other states of Greece. The city of Olynthus, in the Macedonian 
peninsula, was first attacked, but was not taken till after a war of four years, in 
which the Spartans suffered many severe defeats. In the course of this war Phoe- 
bidas, a Spartan general, seized the Cadmeia, or citadel of Thebes. (382 B.C.) 
His crime was not only justified, but rewarded by the king, Agesilaus. The chief 
of the Theban patriots fled to Athens, where they were kindly received. Pelopi- 
das, one of the exiles, concerted, with a friend who remained in Thebes, a plan for 

* Taylor. 



CONVENTION AT SPARTA. 221 

the liberation of his country. The most licentious of the tyrants were invited to a 
feast, and slain. (B,C.o78.) The rest of the traitors met with a similar fate; the 
patriots were reinforced by an Athenian army, and the Lacedcemonian garrison was 
forced to capitulate. 

Cleombrotus was sent with a numerous army from Laccdff'mon, in the depth 
of winter, to chastise the Thebans. The fickle Athenian assembly was beginning 
to repent of having aided the revolters ; but a perfidious attempt having been made 
by one of the Spartan generals to seize the Pirseus, as Phoebidas had the Cadmeia, 
the whole city was filled with just indignation, and the most vigorous preparations 
were made for war. Agesilaus and Cleombrotus invaded Bceotia, but the Athe- 
nians and the Thebans under Pelopidas won two splendid victories at Tanagra and 
Tegyra. In the latter they encountered a vast superiority of force. 

Never had the Lacedsemonians, before that day, retreated from an inferior 
force, or lost, in any one engagement, so many of their citizens. Another of their 
boasts, that "never had the women of Sparta beheld the smoke of an enemy's 
camp," was now also done away. The Athenians swept the Spartan navy from 
the seas, and infested the coasts of the Peloponnesus. The maritime states, disap- 
pointed in their expectations of independence, renewed their confederacy under the 
supremacy of Athens, and the invention by Iphicrates of a new system of military 
tactics, proved fatal to the ancient superiority of the Spartan phalanx. Nothing 
could have saved Sparta from destruction, had not the Thebans, intoxicated with 
success, provoked hostility by their vaunting pride, and the cruelty with which 
they treated the cities of Bceotia. 

A convention of all the Grecian states was summoned to Sparta at the re- 
quest of the Persian monarch, who wished to obtain aid from the chief republics in 
subduing the insurrection of the Egyptians, B.C. 372. Epaminondas represented 
the Thebans. He was the best military commander that Greece had yet produced, 
and the wisest statesman it had seen since the days of Pericles. His eloquent 
denunciation of Spartan ambition produced a deep impression on the minds of the 
deputies, which all the ingenuity of Agesilaus failed to remove ; the assembly was 
dissolved without coming to a conclusion ; but the influence of Sparta was destroyed 
for ever.* 

Early in the year 371 B.C., Cleombrotus invaded Boeotia, but was totally 
defeated in the battle of Leuctra by Epaminondas. The Athenians, becoming jea- 
lous of the Thebans, withdrew from their alliance. The Boeotians, however, sup- 
plied this loss by concluding a treaty with Jason of Pherse, an able and warlike 
prince, who meditated the conquest of all Greece. His schemes were annihilated 
by his assassination. (B.C. 370.) Epaminondas and Pelopidas were soon after sent 
with an army into the Peloponnesus, from Sparta, the states of which had revolted. 
They advanced without interruption into Laconia, and laid waste the whole coun- 
try, B.C. 369. Epaminondas rebuilt the ancient city of Messene, placed a The- 

* Taylor. 



222 GREECE. 

ban garrison in its citadel, and called back the wreck of the Messenian nation to 
their native land, where they watched every favourable occasion for wreaking their 
vengeance on their oppressors. Learning that the Athenians had entered into an 
alliance with the Spartans, and had sent a large army to their aid under the com- 
mand of Iphicrates, the Theban commanders returned home laden with plunder 
through the Isthmus of Corinth. During the next six years, the Spartans were 
engaged in punishing their revolted subjects in Laconia, while the Thebans were 
involved in a difficult struggle against Alexander, tyrant of Pherse, who had suc- 
ceeded to the influence of Jason, and Ptolemy, the usurper of the throne of Mace- 
don. Pelopidas restored Perdiccas to the throne seized by Ptolemy, and forced 
Alexander to submit to the terms imposed by the Theban senate. In order to 
secure the north to the Theban interest, Pelopidas brought home with him several 
of the princes and nobles as hostages, among whom was Philip of Macedon, after- 
wards conqueror of Greece. On his way to Boeotia, the Theban general was 
treacherously seized by Alexander, and thrown into prison. He was not released 
until Epaminondas forced the tyrant to unconditional submission. When freed, 
Pelopidas was sent as an ambassador to Persia, where he induced Artaxerxes to 
break off his alliance with Sparta, and conclude a league with the Thebans. Many 
of the Grecian states refused to accede to this league, and Epaminondas does not 
seem to have met with much success in an attempt to revive the spirit of the con- 
federacy. Meanwhile, (B.C. 364,) Pelopidas fell in a battle against Alexander of 
Pherse, who was soon after murdered by his own family. 

In the following year Epaminondas made an unsuccessful attack on Sparta 
itself, which was speedily followed by an attempt to surprise Mantinea. He would 
have been successful, but for the arrival of an Athenian troop of horse, which com- 
pelled him to retire. These disappointments induced Epaminondas to hazard 
a pitched battle. It was fought in the neighbourhood of Mantinea, and was 
the most arduous and sanguinary in which the valour of Greece had yet been 
engaged. Epaminondas fell in the arms of victory; and, with the two great men 
who had raised her to power, the glory of the Theban state expired. Her citizens 
neglected to preserve their advantages, and rendered this sanguinary struggle inde- 
cisive, and productive of no other consequences than a general languor and debility 
in all the states of Greece. A general peace was established by the mediation of 
Artaxerxes, on the single condition that each republic should retain its respective 
possessions. Sparta w^as anxious to recover Messenia, but this was inflexibly 
opposed by Artaxerxes. In order to punish the Persian monarch, Agesilaus led 
an army into Egypt, where he acquired considerable wealth by dishonourably sup- 
porting one rebel after another. On his return home, he died in an obscure port 
on the Cyrenaic coast, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. (B.C. 361.) At 
the commencement of his reign, Sparta had attained the summit of her greatness, 
and it was owing to his intrigues, ambition, and obstinacy, that at its close she had 
sunk into hopeless weakness. 

The third Peloponnesian war had scarcely terminated, when the Athenians, by 



PHILIP OF MACEDON. 223 

their tyranny ami rapacity towards the maritime states, were deprived of all the ad- 
vantages they had derived from the patriotism of Conon. By the advice of the dema- 
gogue Chares, they so oppressed their dependencies that Chios, Cos, Rhodes, and 
Byzantium, revolted. Their attempts to punish the defection failed, and the inde- 
pendence of the allies was secured by the intervention of Artaxerxes Ochus of 
Persia. The Amphyctionic council now assumed an important position in the 
affairs of Greece, by issuing a decree subjecting the Phocians to a heavy fine for 
cultivating lands consecrated to Apollo, and imposing a similar penalty on the 
Spartans for their treacherous occupation of the Cadmeia. (B.C. 357.) The Pho- 
cians under Philomelus, stormed the sacred city, and plundered its treasury. The 
Thebans and Locrians took up arms to avenge the insult, and a war followed, 
chiefly remarkable for the sanguinary spirit displayed by the combatants, who 
murdered all their captives. Philomelus was at last forced into an engagement, 
and defeated. To avoid being taken prisoner, he threw himself headlong from a 
rock. (B.C. 353.) Onomarchus, his lieutenant and brother, conducted the rem- 
nant of the army to the fastnesses of Delphi. He proved to be an able and pru- 
dent leader. With the treasures of the oracle he purchased the aid of Lycophron, 
the chief of the Thessalian princes. Thus supported, he committed fearful ravages 
upon the territories of Boeotia and Locris. 

Though the kings of Macedonia claimed descent from Hercules, the Greeks 
considered them as no part of their nation, but always treated them as barbarians. 
This kingdom had existed more than four hundred years, but had generally stood in 
need of protection from Athens or Sparta ; and had never risen to a capacity of 
partaking in the eminence of those republics. 

But it now furnished an example, like that of Thebes, of the power of one 
distinguished individual to accomplish, in favourable circumstances, the most im- 
portant revolutions. It was in Thebes that the new leader of the Macedonians 
had received his best instructions in the arts of policy and war. Philip had been 
taken to that city as a hostage when only ten years of age, and had been carefully 
educated under the eye of Epaminondas, assisted by the celebrated Pythagorean 
])hilosopher, Lysis. At twenty-four years of age he ascended the throne of Mace- 
don, which he found assailed by four formidable armies, and distracted by two rival 
competitors for the crown, one of whom had the powerful support of the Atheni- 
ans. He displayed valour and address equal to the emergency. Having procured 
peace from his other enemies, he marched with his whole force against his rival 
ArgcEus, and the Athenians, whom he defeated, Argseus falling in the battle. (359 
B. C.) Philip instantly liberated and loaded with favours the Athenian soldiers 
whom he had taken captives, and gained the friendship of the Athenians by resign- 
ing his pretensions to Amphipolis, which he had seized. He next applied himself 
successfully to the extension of the northern frontiers of his kingdom, and only 
waited for a pretext for interfering in the affairs of the Greeks, when the Thebans 
invited him to take upon himself the direction of the Sacred War. He marched 
immediately into Greece, cagsed the annihilation of the Phocians as a nation, and 



224 



GREECE. 







secured to himself the two votes they had hitherto possessed in the Amphictyonic 
council. But Athens and Thebes soon found themselves obliged to unite their 
arms against him, for the security of their freedom. Philip and his valiant son 
Alexander met and totally defeated them in the celebrated battle of Chffironea, 
B.C. 338. Resistance being hopeless, the congress of the Amphictyonic states 
assembled at Corinth, declared war against Persia, and chose Philip captain-gene- 
ral of the league. The ambitious monarch immediately commenced preparations 
for the conquest of Asia ; but the completion of his designs was left to his son and 
successor, Alexander, in consequence of his death at the hands of Pausanias, 
a Macedonian nobleman, who stabbed him to the heart. (B.C. 336.) 

Alexander was not yet twenty years of age at his accession to the throne ; but 
the bold and enterprising spirit first displayed in subduing the celebrated horse Buce- 
phalus, and subsequently by many similar incidents, had inspired among his coun- 
trymen confidence in his ability and decision of character. The Thracians and 
the Illyrians, however, resolved to profit by his youth and supposed inexperience, 
to retaliate upon his kingdom the injuries which they liad sustained at the hands 
of his father. But the young hero quickly forced their fastnesses, and indicted on 
them such a summary punishment, that they remained quiet during the remainder 



'Ill,yp'lll 

"IliLili''''' 
t.«jl jl'lili 

iiMi|lhVi|i|'' 






'l|f,,l '11 



lliijil;' 



■./iM;iii!l:i''i'i^li lliii 



■lilt I' 

mi 



''iiiiitii. 




BATTLES OF CRANICUS AND ISSUS. i2'^7 

of his reign. A report of his death had been spread in Greece during his absence, 
and the Thebans commenced a revolt by murdering their Macedonian governors 
and besieging their troops in the Cadmeia. In fourteen days, the astonished citi- 
zens beheld Alexander at their gates, eager for vengeance. He stormed the city, 
and put to death or sold into slavery all of the inhabitants excepting the descend- 
ants of Pindar, the priestly families, and the Macedonian faction. The city itself 
was razed to the ground. Many have attributed this barbarity rather to the 
Boeotians than to the Macedonians, and the conqueror himself is said to have after- 
wards regretted the desolation of Thebes as both cruel and impolitic. 

The other states were awed by this severity, and hastened to make their peace 
with Alexander, who accepted their excuses, that he might prosecute his plans 
of conquest in Asia. Leaving Greece and Macedon in the care of Antipater, he 
set out on this expedition with an army of five thousand horse and thirty thousand 
foot. (B.C. 384.) He crossed the Hellespont without opposition, and advanced to 
the Granicus, a river flowing from Mount Ida into the Propontis. On the banks 
of this stream the Persian satraps were posted with an immense army. Alexander 
determined to attack them immediately, notwithstanding his great inferiority of 
numbers. Disregarding his personal security, he forded the river at the head of 
his cavalry, gained the opposite bank, and obtained a decisive victory. He lost but 
thirty-five of the light infantry, and eighty-five horsemen. This splendid achieve- 
ment placed in the power of the conqueror the whole of that portion of the Persian 
empire which had formerly constituted the kingdom of Lydia. In the second cam- 
paign Alexander advanced towards the defiles of Cilicia, through which he ex- 
pected to pass and meet Darius on the Bay of Issus. But the Persian king had 
imprudently resolved to enter the defiles in quest of the Greeks, who, he was in- 
formed, were afraid to meet him. Here, entangled in the narrow^ passes, and una- 
ble to derive any advantage from his superior numbers, he was attacked by Alex- 
ander with his irresistible phalanx. His columns were soon broken, and he himself 
Avas forced to fly from the bloody field in the commencement of the battle. The 
Greek mercenaries in his army kept the victory for some time doubtful by their 
desperate and determined valour, but when their flanks were assailed by the troops 
which had routed the Persians, they were obliged to yield. So great was the loss 
of the Persians in the battle, that they made no attempt to defend their camp, 
which with all its treasures fell into the hands of Alexander. In the camp Darius 
had left his mother, his wife, his daughters, and his infant son to the mercy of the 
conqueror. 

In the pursuit, Alexander had captured the chariot which contained the arms 
and robe of Darius, and had sent them back to the camp. The Persian princesses 
supposed from this that the king was killed, but Alexander sent one of his officers 
to undeceive them, and soon after visited them in company with Hepha^stion. The 
latter was more majestic than the king himself, and the princesses, mistaking him 
for his master, offered to him their homage. He informed them of their error, 
when they fell at the feet of the king to beg forgiveness. " You M'ere not wrong. 



228 • GREECE. 

my mother," said the hero, " it is another Alexander." The treasures of Darius 
had been left at Damascus, where many of the wives of the nobles, and some of the 
officers who had fled from the battle, had taken refuge. Parraenio hastened on- 
ward to seize them. The governor of the city proved treacherous to his sovereign, 
and the prize was secured without difficulty by the Grecian general. 

The maritime provinces were the next objects of attack. All submitted to 
him, except the proud island city of Tyre. Hoping to acquire the honour of hav- 
ing first checked the victorious career of Alexander, she bade defiance to his threats, 
and prepared for a siege. During seven months of unremitted hostility, the Tyrians 
sustained his attacks, and might perhaps have made a successful resistance, but for 
the loss of their naval supremacy, many of the allies in the fleet going over to the 
Macedonians. When the city at length fell, the inhabitants were almost all slain 
or sold into slavery. 

But though the fall of Tyre spread consternation over all Asia, it failed to 
shake the determination of the citizens of Gaza to support their allegiance at all 
hazards. They made an obstinate resistance, but the city at length fell, and its 
inhabitants suffered a punishment equally severe with that awarded to the Tyrians. 

Alexander now entered Egypt, which, long disaffected towards the Persians, 
hailed him as a dehverer. After founding the celebrated city of Alexandria, he 
determined to penetrate the desert to the temple of Jupiter Ammon. His persever- 
ance triumphed over the difficulties of the journey, and he was rewarded for his 
show of piety by the title of " Son of Jupiter." Returning to Tyre from this 
romantic expedition, he soon after set out on his fourth campaign. His army had 
been joined during the winter by reinforcements from Greece, Macedon, and 
Thrace, and it marched with the confidence of victory to meet Darius. 

That monarch had encamped at Gaugamela with an immense army of Per- 
sians and desert tribes, numbering 600,000 foot and 40,000 horse. The advantage 
of numbers was, however, lost to Darius by the want of skill which he displayed 
in arranging his troops for battle. The horse and foot became entangled, and an 
attempt to place them right, left a vacuity in the line. Alexander's practised eye 
discovered the fault, and he resolved to turn it to his advantage. He quickly pene- 
trated the gap with a wedge of squadrons, and his phalanx followed with loud 
shouts. The barbarians were thrown into confusion, and fled from the field ; Darius 
gave all up for lost, and only sought to escape from the hands of his victors. But 
the left wing of the Greeks was bravely resisted, and a party of Persian and Indian 
horse broke through the hnes and reached the Macedonian camp. Had Darius 
remained to direct the movements of his warriors, the fate of the day might have 
been different. But the want of connection lost to the Persians these temporary 
advantages, and the battle was soon changed into a slaughter. The passage of 
the Lycus (the Greater Zab) was even more destructive to the fugitives than the 
swords of their pursuers. The bridge was soon blocked up by the numbers who 
made for it as their only refuge, and the rest in blind terror cast themselves into 
the rapid stream, and, encumbered with their armour, strove in vain to reach the 



I) i: A Til OF DARIUS. 'iol 

opposite bank. Alexander pursued Darius twenty miles to Arbela, which was 
the depository of the royal treasure and baggage, and which has given its name 
to the battle. Postponing the pursuit of Darius, who had fled into Media, 
Alexander continued his march towards Babylon. He had been prepared to expect 
resistance, but at no great distance from the city he was met by the whole popu- 
lation, with their commanders at their head, bringing rich presents, and surrender- 
ing the city, the citadel, and all the rich treasures it contained. Thus attended, 
the conqueror made his triumphant entry, the army following his chariot through 
streets strewed with flowers, and lined with silver altars smoking with incense, 
amid the songs of priests.* Willing to conciliate the Babylonians, Alexander gave 
orders that the Temple of Belus and others, which had been capriciously destroyed 
by Xerxes, should be rebuilt. Having permitted his troops to repose here for some 
time after the fatigues which they had undergone, he set out for Susa, where the 
royal treasures had already been surrendered into the hands of Philoxenus by the 
satrap into whose keeping they had been confided by Darius. 

At Susa he received the reinforcements which he had expected from Greece. 
Pressing on towards Persepolis, he encountered the Uxians and defeated them. 
Near Persepolis he met a number of Greek captives, who had been barbarously 
)nutilated by the Persians. This sight seems to have inspired Alexander with 
thoughts of vengeance ; for, though he encountered no resistance, and found the 
treasure untouched, he gave the city up to pillage, and, at the instigation of an 
Athenian courtesan, applied the brand with his own hand to the magnificent and 
venerable palace of the ancient Persian kings. 

Darius, hearing that Alexander was approaching Ecbatana, fled from that 
city into Hyrcania, where he was deposed and thrown into chains by the satrap 
Bessus. Alexander marched against Bessus with the utmost speed, but he came 
too late to save Darius, who was stabbed by the rebels, and left to die by the road- 
side. Bessus, however, was taken by the Greeks, and put to death with horrible 
tortures. 

The succeeding four years were spent in subduing Spitamenes and several 
other satraps, who, aided by the desert tribes, carried on a desperate struggle for 
independence. Their defeat placed in the hands of the conqueror the provinces 
of Bactria and Sogdiana, and the countries now included in Southern Tartary, 
Khorassan and Cabul. 

Meanwhile, the Lacedaemonians had revolted, and the Athenians banished 
/Eschines, the friend of Macedon, when he was defeated in the famous oratorical 
contest with Demosthenes. The Lacedaemonians were overcome by Antipater, and 
sent ambassadors into Asia to deprecate the conqueror's vengeance. Alexander 
generously pardoned them, and showed his respect for the Athenians by passing 
over in silence their exercise of the ostracism. 

The invasion of India was now resolved on by Alexander. He pushed for- 

• * 'J'liirlwair.s Greece. 



232 GREECE. 

ward to the banks of the Indus with his army in two divisions. No opposition 
was offered to his passage, Taxiles, a powerful Indian chief, having come to the 
opposite bank to offer his submission. Joining the forces of Taxiles to his own, 
Alexander marched on until he reached the Hydaspes, on the banks of which an 
Indian king, Porus, had drawn up his forces to dispute the passage. The Mace- 
donians discerned three hundred chariots and two hundred elephants in his ranks, 
and even Alexander did not dare to cross the river in the face of such a superior 
force. He however succeeded in effecting a passage by stratagem, and a battle 
was fought on a more equal footing. Porus was defeated, taken prisoner, and 
brought before Alexander. He is said to have been seven and a half feet high, 
and his noble stature increased the admiration which his strength and courage in 
the battle-field had already excited in the breast of Alexander. The Macedonian 
hero asked him how he desired to be treated. " As a king," said Porus. " Have 
you, then, nothing more to ask V inquired Alexander. " No ;" replied Porus, 
" all things are included in that." Alexander was so struck with the reply, and 
with the greatness of mind which his captive manifested, that he at once restored 
him to liberty and to his throne. 

Alexander then continued his march eastward to the Hyphasis (Sutleje), when 
his troops, who saw no end to these remote conquests, demanded to be led back to 
their own country. Alexander reluctantly consented, and caused vessels to be 
built on the Hydaspes, by which his army was transported down that river to its 
junction with the Indus, and thence to the ocean. Several months were employed 
in this navigation, in which a number of hostile tribes were overcome. Having 
gazed on the waters of the Indian Ocean, Alexander set out with his army on a 
difficult march through the deserts of Gedrosia to Persepolis. Meanwhile, Near- 
chus, with the fleet, surveyed the Persian Gulf from the mouth of the Indus to 
that of the Euphrates. On his route several mutinies were quelled, and governors 
placed over several provinces. Only the fourth part of the troops with which he 
had set out returned with him to Persia. In Susa, he married two Persian prin- 
cesses, and rewarded those of his Macedonian soldiers who followed his example. 
Rich rewards were often distributed among the troops, and at Osis, on the Tigris, 
he sent the invalids home with presents, though the rest of his army mutinied 
when he declared his intention of so doing.* 

His favourite, Hephaestion, soon after died, and was buried with royal honours. 
A pile was erected in Babylon at an expense of ten thousand talents, and funeral 
games, gymnastic and musical, were celebrated with a splendour never before 
witnessed. 

The king himself did not long survive his favourite. Preparations had been 
making for an armament, with which a maritime communication between Egypt 
and India was to be opened, and these were now so far advanced that Alexander 
celebrated a solemn sacrifice for the success of the projected campaign. He enter- 

* Taylor. 



DHATTI OF ALEXANDER. 235 

tained his principal officers at a banquet, and spent great pa it of the night in 
carousal. The next night another festive bout, at the house of Methus, was 
attended by Alexander, who continued (hinking till a late hour. He then, after 
refreshing himself with a bath, felt the symptoms of fever so strongly, as to be in- 
duced to sleep there. The grasp of death was on him, though his robust frame 
yielded only after a hard struggle to the irresistible force of the mahidy. The 
preparations for the voyage were still continued, and Alexander crossed to the 
royal park, on the other side of the river. But on the seventh day after the first 
attack of the fever, he felt that he was dying, and ordered himself to be conveyed 
back from the park to the state palace, where he lay sensible, but speechless, while 
his army, who feared that he was already dead, passed silently through the room. 
The oracle was consulted for a remedy, but it gave no answer. In reply to the 
question whether it would be better for Alexander to be brought into the temple 
as a suppliant for relief, a voice enjoined that he should not be brought, but should 
stay where he was ; so it would be best for him. Soon after receiving this answer, 
he drew off the ring from his finger, gave it to Perdiccas, and expired. 

So passed from the earth one of the greatest of her sons ; great above most 
for what he w^as in himself, and not, as many who have borne the title, for what 
was given to him to effect; great, not merely in the vast compass and the perse- 
vering ardour of his ambition, nor in the qualities by which he was enabled to gra- 
tify it, and to crowd so many memorable actions within so short a period, but in 
the course which his ambition took, and the collateral aims which ennobled and 
purified it, raising it almost to an equality with the noblest sentiments of which 
man is capable, the desire of knowledge, and the love of good. In a w'ord, great 
as one of the benefactors of his kind. 

When about leaving Greece for the conquest of Asia, Alexander bestowed 
many gifts upon his friends. One received a village, another lands ; and so unspar- 
ing was the generosity of the king, that Perdiccas was induced to ask him what he 
had reserved for himself. " Hope," he replied. " The same hope ought to satisfy 
us," said Perdiccas, and he refused to accept the offering of the king. When he 
gave his ring to Perdiccas, after having cast his eyes round on all his friends who 
were at his bedside, Alexander may be supposed to have decided which was the 
worthiest to command, and the generals had now only to ratify his choice. But 
they were not inclined to give to that general alone, imder any title, the supreme 
power. Their deliberations resulted in the arrangement that if Roxana should 
bear a son, he should be king, and that meanwhile four regents, with Perdiccas at 
their head, should be appointed to exercise the royal authority in the name of the 
future prince.* Perdiccas assumed the regency ; but the Macedonian soldiers, at the 
instigation of Meleager, chose Arridseus, a natural son of Philip, to be king. His 
great imbecility, however, soon manifested itself, and a new arrangement was 
made. Arridseus retained the shadow of royalty ; provision was made for the child 

» Tliirlwall. 



236 G R K E C E. 

with which Roxaria was pregnant ; Perdiccas still continued to be regent, and the 
provinces were divided among the Macedonian generals, who were to govern as 
the satraj)s had formerly done under the Persians. 

Meanwhile a league had been formed for the destruction of the regent. Anti- 
gonus was looked upon by Perdiccas as the most likely to thwart his schemes for 
securing the kingdom, and his destruction was theriefore resolved upon. Eut Anti- 
gonus escaped to Macedonia, where he re})resented to Antipater the necessity of a 
joint resistance of the ambitious views of Perdiccas. Antipater had just brought 
to a successful termination a war with Athens, and he the more willingly prepared to 
marth into Asia. Ptolemy, who had received the government of Egypt and Libya 
for his share in the dismemberment of the Macedonian empire, also joined the league 
against Perdiccas. Antipater, Antigonus, and Ptolemy, were soon after declared 
rebels against the royal authority, and Perdiccas marched against Ptolemy, whose 
craft and ability he dreaded even more than his power. 

Antipater, assisted by Craterus and Neoptolemus, the governor of Phrygia, 
was early in the field, intending to invade Macedonia, which was governed in 
Anfipater's absence by Eumenes, his secretary. Antipater, however, divided his 
forces, hastening after Perdiccas with one division of his army, whilst the other, 
under Craterus and Neoptolemus, marched against Eumenes. That officer, how- 
ever, totally routed them in the Trojan plain, Neoptolemus being killed, and Cra- 
terus mortally wounded, in the battle. 

Two days before the news of this victory reached the royal camp, the regent 
was no more. He had been murdered in his tent by Python. (B.C. 321.) Mean- 
while the Athenians, instigated by the orators Demosthenes and Hyperides, had 
commenced the Lamian war by calling on the other states to second them in a 
struggle for freedom. The ^Etolians and the mountaineers of Doris and Phocis 
came to her aid, but Thebes was unable, and the Spartans, Achseans, and Arca- 
dians unwilling, to join her in the war. Antipater marched to secure the straits 
of Thermopylae, but the Athenians, under Leosthenes, met and defeated him. He 
then sought refuge in Lamia, a strong fortress on the Malian Gulf, which the 
Athenians besieged. But Leosthenes w^as slain in a sally, and the command given 
to Antiphilus, who, rendered careless by success, allowed Antipater to escape to a 
Macedonian army sent to his relief. Antipater then attacked the confederates, 
and totally annihilated their army. The Athenians were forced to abolish the 
democracy, receive garrisons into their fortresses, and give up their orators to the 
vengeance of the victors. Demosthenes and Hyperides, warned by their fate, took 
to flight. Archias, sent to pursue them, found Hyperides at the altar of the tem- 
ple of iEgina, where he had vainly sought a refuge. He was delivered into the 
hands of Antipater, who ordered his tongue to be first cut out, and his remains to 
be cast to the dogs. Demosthenes sought an asylum in the island of Calaurea ; 
Archias vainly besought him to confide himself to the mercy of Antipater. He 
would not submit to the enemy whom he had hitherto defied, for the sake of a few 
days more of ignominious wretchedness. He swallowed poison which he had kept 



DEATH OF DEMOSTII F, N KS. 



2:W 







for the purpose, and moved with faltering steps towards the door, but had scarcely 
passed the altar, when he fell with a groan and breathed his last. In after times 
the Athenians granted the highest honours to his descendants, and erected a bronze 
statue in the Agora to himself. It bore an inscription corresponding in its import 
to a dream which he is said to have had at Calauria, " Had but the strength of 
thy arm, Demosthenes, equalled thy spirit, never would Greece have sunk under 
the foreigner's yoke."* Undismayed by these calamities, the iEtolians resolved to 
continue the war, and Antipater, who was eager to march into Asia against Per- 
diccas, granted them peace on favourable terms.f On the death of Perdiccas, the 
regency was offered to Ptolemy, but he refused so dangerous an office, and it was 
conferred upon Arridaeus and Python. Eurydice, the wife of Arridffius, wrested 
the reins of power from her husband and Python, but was obliged to resign them 
to Antipater. 

He immediately sent Eurydice and Arridseus prisoners to Pella, and intrusted 
to Antigonus and Cassander, his own son, the conduct of the war with Eumenes. 
But a quarrel soon occurred between the two generals, and Cassander returned to 
Europe. Antigonus defeated Eumenes in the field, and laid siege to Nora, a Cap- 



* Thirlwall. Ilistoirc Univcrsello par Sogur. 



t Taylor. 



238 GREECE. 

padocian city, where Eumenes had taken refuge. *The death of Antipater hap- 
pened about this time. He bequeathed the regency to Polysperchon, excluding 
his son Cassander from power. Polysperchon joined the party of Ol^mpias, the 
mother of Alexander, who had been expelled by Antipater. 

Cassander became master of the ports of Athens, and fitted out a fleet to sup- 
port Antigonus in his enterprises. His admiral, Nicanor, succeeded in capturing 
all the enemy's ships except the admiral's galley, and thus secured to Antigonus 
the supremacy of Lower Asia. The Athenians were placed completely in the 
power of Cassander, but their government was intrusted to Demetrius Phalereus, 
who ruled them with such moderation and justice during ten years, that more than 
three hundred statues are said to have been erected in testimony of his benefits. 

Polysperchon invaded Arcadia and laid siege to Megalopolis, while Olympias 
was besieged in Pydna by Cassander, who had come to take revenge upon her for 
the murder of Eurydice. Megalopolis was successfully defended, but Pydna was 
taken, Olympias put to death, and Polysperchon obliged to take refuge in ^Etolia. 
Cassander soon after consoled himself for the loss of his mistress, Eurydice, by a 
marriage with Thessalonica, the posthumous daughter of Alexander. Eumenes 
still continued the war in Asia, evincing during a long struggle military qualities 
which would not have disgraced the greatest general of his day. He was finally 
put to death by Antigonus, into whose hands he had been betrayed in the moment 
of victory by the Argyraspides, the body-guards of Alexander. (B.C. 315.) 

Antigonus now ruled over all Asia Minor, and he speedily drove Seleucus 
from Babylon, wrested Syria and Phoenicia from Ptolemy, and instigated the 
Southern Greeks, the jEtolians, and Epirotes, to attack Cassander in Macedon. At 
the same time he sent his son Demetrius against the Egyptian Ptolemy, and bribed 
the mountaineers and northern barbarians to attack Lysimachus in Thrace. The 
first operation of the war was the overthrow of Demetrius by Ptolemy. By this 
victory, which occurred near Gaza, the Egyptian governor became Ynaster of 
Palestine and Phoenicia ; and Seleucus, hastily returning to Babylon, was enthu- 
siastically received and reinstated in all his former possessions. In the following 
year, Palestine and Phoenicia were again lost by Ptolemy, who was defeated by 
Demetrius. 

Antigonus sent Athenseus to seize the rich stores of the city of Petra, the 
great depot of the caravan trade between the southern countries of Asia and 
northern Africa. The Arabs, however, succeeded in defeating this army and saving 
their riches from his grasp, and baffled the efforts of Demetrius, who came to avenge 
his father's loss. A peace, by which all the parties appear to have intended only 
to gain time for new schemes of conquest, was soon after concluded. The rival 
generals all agreed to acknowledge the son of Alexander for their king, but Cas- 
sander, who was alarmed at the murmurs of the Macedonians, had already resolved 
that Roxana, Alexander iEgus, Hercules, and Cleopatra, should be put to death. 
He soon after accomplished his design. Antigonus next sent his son Deme- 
trius into Greece to restore the liberty of the states. The Athenians opened their 



Fa L L O F T II K MACEDONIAN E M IM k E 



239 



gates to the young prince, coifdemned their benefactor and idol, Demetrius Phale- 
reus, to death, and overtlnew the statues which they had before erected to his 
iionour. (B. C. 30S.) Phalereus, to escape their malevolence, fled to Ptolemy, who 
graciously received him. Demetrius not long after defeated the fleet of Ptolemy 
off Cyprus. His father then assumed the title of king, and his example was imi- 
tated by Ptolemy in Egypt, Cassander in Macedon, Seleucus in Babylon, and Lysi- 
machus. But the inordinate ambition of Antigonus caused the other sovereigns to 
combine their forces against him. Cassander again subdued southern Greece, 
Ptolemy fell upon Syria, Lysimachus invaded Thrace, and Seleucus marched west- 
ward with the numerous forces of Upper Asia, including four hundred and eighty 
elephants. The junction of Lysimachus and Seleucus in Phrygia, brought on a 
general engagement. Antigonus, aided by his gallant son, Demetrius, fought with 
his usual valour ; but he was defeated, with the loss of his life and the empire, the 
establishment of which had been the employment of a large portion of his ex- 
istence. 

This battle, which was fought at Ipsus, in Phrygia, B.C. 301, left no memo- 
rial remaining of the policy and the conquests of Alexander, except the city which 
still bears his name. The empire which his mighty hand had raised to unparalleled 
greatness, had fallen into irretrievable ruin, and not one of his descendants was 
spared to transmit his name to posterity. Cassander received for his services not 
only Macedon and Greece, but also the rich province of Cilicia. The losses of 
Ptolemy were compensated by the addition of Syria and Palestine to Egypt, whilst, 
of the true conquerors of Antigonus, Seleucus received Upper Asia, and Lysima- 
chus annexed Asia Minoi- to his khigdom of Thrace.* 

* Taylor. 





1 K IJ i I !'■ ■ ' f :.l I :. B U V /V A T .1' U I i: /■. . 

CHAPTER X. 

T II E S T A T E S 

THAT ROSE FROM THE D 1 S M E M B E R M i: N T OF THE M A C E D (J N I A N EMPIRE. 

SECTION I. 



aciriSiSJij amlSi 



iC^lf f . 



HE battle of Ipsus sent Demetrius a fugitive into (Jieece, 
where he received his vessels and money from the Athe- 
nians, and then established himself in Peloponnesus. He 
commenced waging a desultory naval war with Lysima- 
chus, and soon after married his daughter to Seleucus, 
who had transferred the enmity he had borne towards 
Antigonus to the King of Thrace. Lachares now^ bore the 
office of Tyrant in Athens; but confusion reigned within 
its walls. Demetrius laid siege to the city, defeated a 
fleet sent by Ptolemy to its relief, and succeeded in placing a garrison in its cita- 
del. He then defeated the Spartans, and was marching to attack their capital, 
when he learned that Lysimachus had taken all his cities in Asia, and that all 
those in Cyprus except Salamis had fallen into the hands of Ptolemy. But Cas- 




DEFENCE OF DELPHI . 241 

Sander had died 458 B.C., leaving three sons. The eldest, Philip, soon followed 
his father to the grave. The interests of his brother Alexander were favoured by 
Thessalonica, who was in consequence slain by Antipater. But the people forced 
the murderer to fly from the country, and Alexander mounted the throne. He made 
a treaty of alliance wnth Demetrius, but soon after made an attempt to murder that 
prince. He was detected and put to death, and the kingdom fell into the hands of 
Demetrius, who became master of Macedon, Thessaly, a great part of Southern 
Greece, Attica, Megaris, and Boeotia. But he aspired to recover his father's domi- 
nions in Asia; and Ptolemy, Lysimachus, Seleucus, and Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, 
entered into a league against him. In the sixth year of his reign, B.C. 287, his 
kingdom was invaded on two sides by Pyrrhus and Lysimachus ; his own troops 
mutinied, and he fled in the disguise of a common soldier to Peloponnesus, while 
Pyrrhus seized his kingdom. The superior claims of Lysimachus, however, soon 
obliged Pyrrhus to yield and retire to his native country. 

Demetrius not long after sailed into Asia, where he hoped to take revenge on 
Lysimachus ; but he was driven into Cilicia, where he fell into the power of Seleu- 
cus, who detained him in prison until his death, B.C. 284. His son Antigonus 
maintained himself in the Peloponnesus, where he patiently awaited an opportunity 
of restoring the fallen fortunes of his house. Lysimachus having caused his son 
Agathocles to be put to death, the widow of the prince fled with her brother 
Ptolemy Ceraunus to Seleucus, who took up arms to avenge their cause. Lysima- 
chus was defeated and slain, and his kingdom seized by Ptolemy Ceraunus, who, 
before mounting the throne, returned the kindness of Seleucus by murdering that 
king. (280 B.C.) He did not long enjoy the dignity thus basely obtained. Nine 
months after the death of Seleucus, he was killed in an invasion of the Gauls, who 
poured their innumerable hosts over Thrace and Macedon into Greece. They 
came at length to Delphi, where thunders, lightnings, and other phenomena, added to 
the brave defence of the Greeks, made such dreadful havoc in their ranks that they 
commenced a retreat, harassed on every side by the victorious Greeks. At the river 
Sperchius they are said to have been totally annihilated. (B. C. 278.) Another 
division was soon after defeated in Macedon by Antigonus, and they henceforth 
desisted from their attacks on Greece. A body of them not long after passed over 
into Asia, where, after inflicting many calamities on the states of Anatolia, they ob- 
tained possession of the province, which received from them the name of Galatia.* 

After a contest of three years, Antigonus Gonatas, the son of Demetrius I., 
obtained possession of the vacant throne of Macedon, and transmitted it to his pos- 
terity. He did not, however, like his father, possess the sovereignty of Southern 
Greece, which had been secured by the Achsean league. This association had 
been revived by the towns of Patrae, Dyrae, Trite, and Pharse, but it did not be- 
come formidable until joined by Sicyon, B. C. 251, after that city had been freed 
from tyrants by the patriotic Aratus. 

* Taylor. 
Vol. I. 31 



242 MACEDON AND GREECE. 

A new revolution in M.icedon followed the return of Pyrihus from Italy, 
whither he had marched, B. C. 281, as an ally of the Tarentines, The mercenaries 
revolted to the King of Epirus, and Antigonus was driven from the throne. He 
retired into Southern Greece, followed by Pyrrhus. The rivals were admitted by 
different gates at the same time into the city of Argos, and a combat ensued in the 
streets, in which Pyrrhus was killed. (B. C. 271.) A woman, whose son he was 
about to slay, threw a tile upon him from a house-top. His son Alexander re- 
newed the war with Antigonus, but was unsuccessful, and his rival regained the 
throne, which he held until his death. 

Corinth, Epidaurus, Trcezene, and Athens, were soon after added to the 
Achsean league, which, notwithstanding the opposition of ^Etolia and Macedonia, 
became so powerful that even the King of Egypt was not too proud to solicit its 
alliance, and several states north of the Peloponnesus requested the honour of 
membership. 

Antigonus Gonatus died B. C. 243. The reign of his successor, Demetrius 
II., which lasted ten years, was occupied with wars between him and the iEtolians. 
After the death of Demetrius, B. C. 233, Antigonus Doson mounted the throne as 
regent for Philip II., the infant heir of the late king. In Sparta, Agis now 
attempted to reform the manners of the people, and to restore the constitution of 
Lycurgus. But he atoned for his patriotism with his life, the ephori causing 
himself, his mother, and his grandmother, to be strangled. 

His widow married Cleomenes, the son of Leonidas, the king, who, after 
coming to the throne, revived the attempt of Agis with more success. He then 
forced Argos and Corinth to secede from the Achsean league, but was himself 
defeated at Sellasia by Antigonus, and forced to seek refuge with the sovereign of 
Egypt. Antigonus died not long after, universally lamented. He was succeeded, 
B. C. 221, by Philip II., son of Demetrius. 

They commenced making war on the Macedonians and Messenians, and sent 
Aratus to expel the iii^tolians from Messenia. Aratus suffered the greater part of 
his army to leave him during a negotiation with the enemy. He was in conse- 
quence attacked and defeated. Philip being invited to place himself at the head 
of the Achaean league, came to Corinth, where the deputies of Southern Greece 
voted war against iEtolia. While both sides were preparing for hostilities, the Rho- 
dians waged a successful war with Byzantium, and compelled her to abolish the 
heavy toll heretofore exacted from all vessels trading in the Euxine sea. (B. C. 
222.) Sparta was averse to the league, and Cleomenes, who had eagerly watched 
the affairs of Greece from his exile in Egypt, seeing her preparing to side with the 
i^tolians, wished to return and attempt to recover his former power. His schemes, 
however, were displeasing to the King of Egypt, who caused him to be arrested. 
He escaped from his guards, and made an unsuccessful attempt to excite a revolt 
in Alexandria. To save himself from falling into the hands of the Egyptians, he 
committed suicide. The war with the /Etolians was conducted with great cruelty 



DEATH OF A 11 AT US. 



•^43 




OF ATHENS. 



on both sides. It was finally terminated by a peace, concluded at Naupactus, 
B. C. 217, with the general consent of all parties. 

Philip soon after concluded a treaty with Hannibal, who was now waging 
war with Rome. The Achaean general, Aratus, advised him not to bring Greece 
into collision with either of the great belligerents ; but Philip, to whom the advice 
of the noble general was hateful, caused him to be poisoned. To keep Philip 
employed in Greece, the Romans induced the vEtolians to recommence the war. 
Hostilities were w-aged for some time with various success, when Philip defeated his 
enemies in two pitched battles near Lamia in Thessaly. Negotiations for peace were 
soon commenced, but the arrival of aid from the Romans and from Attains, King of 
Pergamus, caused them to be broken off by the iEtolians. War again broke forth. 
Philip displayed the greatest activity and miUtary talents, and gained several 
advantages over his enemies. The presence of Hannibal in Italy caused the Ro- 
mans to leave Greece, and an invasion of his dominions by the King of Bithynia 
required the presence of Attains. The ^Etolians, deprived of their allies, made 
overtures of peace, which were readily accepted. (B.C. 208.) 

The treaty was scarcely concluded when a Roman fleet arrived on the coast, 
and endeavoured to interrupt it ; but the ^Etolians had suffered too severely to con- 
tinue the war. Philip next entered into an alliance with Prusias, King of 
Bithynia, against Attalus, King of Pergamus, and with the ruler of Syria, against 
the young King of Egypt. The Rhodians, the Athenians, the Romans, and the 
Boeotians, were all successively added to the number of his enemies. The Rho- 



244 MACEDON AND GREECE. 

dians rlefeated and ruined his fleet at Chios, B. C. 202 ; and the Roman consul cap- 
tured Chalcis, an important citj-, where Philip kept his large and well-stored gra- 
naries, his booty, and many of his captives. Philip, on his part, reduced to extre- 
mity the city of Abydos, all the inhabitants of which either committed suicide, or 
slew each other, that they might not become the prisoners of Philip. He next 
made a forced march on Athens, which would have fallen into his hands but for 
the opportune arrival of a Roman army. In the second campaign, the conduct 
of the war was intrusted to Flaminius, the Roman consul, who speedily brought 
it to a close. He defeated Philip in a decisive battle fought in Thessaly, near a 
range of low hills, called, from their singular shape, Cynoscephalse, or the dogs' 
heads. Philip lost eight thousand in killed and five thousand prisoners ; the Ro- 
man loss did not exceed seven hundred men. By the terms of the peace which 
followed this battle, Philip gave up his fleet to the Romans, and resigned his supre- 
macy over the states of Greece. At the Isthmian festival, the Romans went through 
the farce of proclaiming the liberties of Greece by the voice of the crier. The 
decree ran thus: "The Roman Senate and T. Quinctius, the proconsul, hav- 
ing overcome King Philip and the Macedonians, leave free, ungarrisoned, unbur- 
dened with tribute, the Corinthians, Phocians, Thessalians, and others ;" specify- 
ing all the Greeks who had been subject to Philip. Such was the efl^ect produced 
by this extraordinary proclamation, that the words of the crier were lost amid the 
acclamations of the people, who almost crushed the consul in the expression of 
their gratitude. 

But the iiCtolians were dissatisfied with this result; and when Antiochus, 
King of Syria, at the instigation of Hannibal, declared war against the Romans, and 
passed over into Greece, he was w^elcoraed by them. Supported by the Acha?ans, 
Philip, who was unbroken in spirit, declared for the Romans. When Antiochus 
returned to Asia, B. C. 191, the iEtolians were severely treated, being reduced to 
poverty and deprived of independence. (B. C. 189.) About the same time, the 
Achapan general, Philopoemen, succeeded in taking Sparta, and finally abolishing 
the constitution of Lycurgus. The Romans affected great pity for Sparta, and 
compelled the Achseans to grant them lighter terms. The league soon after suf- 
fered a much greater loss, in the death of the brave and aged Philopoemen. He 
died by poison, administered by the magistrates of Messenia, into whose hands he 
had fallen, during a petty war between that state and the Achaeans. (B. C. 183.) 
His death was speedily avenged by the Achseans ; Messene was forced to surren- 
der, and all who had been concerned in his murder were put to death. 

Philip of Macedon bore with great impatience the arrogant treatment of the 
Romans. A rupture, however, was prevented by the most earnest exertions of 
his son, Demetrius, whom he had given as a hostage after his defeat at Cynosce- 
phalse. For this reason, the young prince was enthusiastically welcomed by the 
Macedonians on his return home. Of this circumstance, Perseus, his elder brother, 
whose jealousy he had excited, took advantage to accuse him to his father of trea- 
son. Philip gave the young man to the executioner, but soon after discovered his 



BATTLE OF P YON A. 24o 

innocence. He then endeavoured to change the succession, and was about to have 
Antlgonus acknowledged as his heir, when he died of a broken heart. (B. C. 179.) 
Thus ended the days of a monarch whose proud spirit the most overwhekning 
reverses of fortune failed to subdue.* 

Conscious of the enmity borne towards him both by the Romans and his own 
subjects, Perseus made the murder of Antigonus one of the first acts of his reign. 
His severity was probably caused by a desire to remove all occasion for intestine 
commotion, when foreign wars should occupy his attention. He soon found that 
the Romans were determined to annex his territories to those of the Republic. But 
the efforts of Philip had been directed, during the latter part of his life, to the 
recruiting of his forces, and the replenishing of his treasury and his magazines ; and 
Perseus could now bring into the field a well-appointed army of 30,000 foot and 
5000 horse. But his timidity was such, that he neglected many opportunities of 
crushing the forces sent against him, and even sought for peace on humiliating 
terms after he had gained a victory. But he found that the haughtiness of the 
Romans was fully equal to his own pusillanimity. He was finally forced, by the 
remonstrances of his officers, to hazard a battle. It was fought near Pydna, and 
the Romans were victorious. It happened that, on the eve of the battle, the moon 
was eclipsed. To the superstitious Greeks, an eclipse portended ill to states and 
kingdoms ; but the Romans were prepared for the occurrence by C. Sulpicius 
Galba, an officer, who had foretold when it would happen, and explained its cause. 
In the morning the opposing forces marched to battle ; the Romans confident of 
victory, the Macedonians expecting a defeat and death, but resolved to perish 
like brave men. The result of the battle was as might have been expected. The 
phalanx, animated by despair, threw itself upon the legions, and for a time bore 
down all opposition; but the Romans had at length learned how to meet this spe- 
cies of array in the field. Separating themselves, they penetrated between the 
long pikes and fell sword in hand on the Macedonians, who were almost totally 
unarmed for a close encounter. The files of the phalanx were broken, and the 
whole body quickly thrown into disorder. The Macedonians gave up all for lost, 
and only endeavoured to save themselves from slaughter. Many perished by their 
own hands, others were trampled to death in the press, and vast numbers fell 
beneath the swords of their brutal conquerors, who showed no mercy to the van- 
quished. Night at length closed the contest, leaving the bloody field of Pydna 
covered with the dead bodies of twenty thousand of the brave sons of the conquerors 
of Asia. With the setting of the sun, the last rays of the former greatness of 
Macedon were extinguished, and her monarch became a wretched wanderer, hunted 
over the earth like a wild beast. After many vicissitudes, he was obliged to put 
himself into the hands of Jilmilius, and was led in chains to Rome, to grace the 
triumph of his conqueror. 

This victory sealed the fate of Macedon and Greece. They were permitted 

* Taylor. 



246 



MACEDON AND GREECE. 




SUKNING OF COBINTH. 



for a time to enjoy a qualified independence, subject to the galling supremacy of 
the Roman Senate. But their shackles were prepared by the artful confusion of 
all relations, and the formation of a Roman party in all the communities, which 
pointed out the true patriots as the friends of Macedonia, and brought them under 
the suspicion and tyranny of the Senate. Directly after the fall of Perseus, they 
instigated the Romans to the unjustifiable violence of citing to Rome one thousand 



FALL OF CORINTH. 



217 



of the noblest of the Achaeans, whose sentiments were supposed to be favourable to 
the liberty of their country, and whose influence seemed dangerous. They were 
thrown into prison in Italy, and detained there seventeen years without being 
brought to trial. Some of those who survived this long imprisonment, caused their 
countrymen to offer an insult to the Roman ambassadors, who had come to Corinth 
to arrange a difficulty between the Acha?ans and the Spartans. This led to a war, 
in which the Achaeans fought with the bravery of their forefathers, but were every- 
where overpowered by numbers. Mummius, at the head of the Roman forces, 
advanced before Corinth. This city, which had stood a thousand years, an orna- 
ment to Greece, and one of the richest in works of art, was taken and burned, 
the inhabitants either slain or sold into slavery, and the works of art destroyed or 
carried to Rome. Thebes and Chalcis, in Euboea, were likewise burned, and the 
Greeks, the renowned champions of liberty, w^ho had braved so many kings and 
tyrants, were reduced to a state of bondage by the hands of a people free and 
desirous of glory. 

But though Greece became subject to Rome as the province of Achaia (B. C. 
146), she still retained her empire of science and art ; and Athens, in ceasing to be 
the sovereign state of the Greeks, became the university of the world. 



Taylor. 





SECTION II. 



SYUIA AND EGYPT. 




HE great victory at Gaza, by which Ptolemy 
wrested from the grasp of Demetrius the posses- 
sion of Palestine and its vicinity, enabled him 
to furnish Seleucus, who had aided him in the 
conflict, with a small force, with which he might 
prosecute his own interests. With this body, com- 
posed of only two hundred horse and eight hun- 
dred foot, the gallant exile boldly determined to 
attempt the conquest of his former territory. Cross- 
ing the desert and the Euphrates, he paused at 
Haran, in Mesopotamia, to increase his army. 
Thence he passed on to Babylonia, where his old 
subjects, gratefully remembering the justice, magnanimity, and courage which 
marked his previous administration, rose almost unanimously to array them- 
selves under his banners. By their aid, Seleucus, almost without a contest, 
recovered possession of the city and province of Babylon, together with the 
districts of Media and Susiana, (312 B. C.) Thus gloriously commenced the Ei-a 
of the Scleuddce. While his cotemporaries were each employed in wasting the 
strength and resources of the others, Seleucus had been consolidating the power- 
which he had acquired. Before the close of the year 303 B. C, he had extended 
his empire to the borders of India, and was making preparations for an invasion 
of that country, when the affairs of the West demanded his presence. He there- 



RISE OF THE SELEUCID^E. 249 

fore concluded a treaty with the Indian king, from whom he received five hundred 
elephants. Subsequent supplies of these animals were afterwards obtained from 
the same source, in order to keep up this favourite force in the armies of the Syrian 
kings. Four hundred of these animals were brought by him into the field of Ipsus, 
where, by an adroit disposition of them, he prevented Demetrius from supporting 
his father, and thus gained the victory. Seleucus obtained the lion's share of the 
provinces of Antigonus. His dominion now extended over many provinces in 
Syria, Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, Babylonia, and the East as far as the frontiers 
of India. In the course of the long wars, many fine cities had been destroyed and 
others injured in the territories of Seleucus. To repair these losses, the wise 
monarch built many new cities, the most celebrated of which was Antioch, on 
the Orontes, in Syria, the metropolitan residence of the succeeding kings, and of 
the Roman governors in Asia. By the overthrow of Lysimachus, he added Mace- 
don and Thrace to his empire. Ptolemy Soter had died about a year before the 
death of Lysimachus, leaving his throne to his son, Ptolemy Philadelphus. Seleu- 
cus, therefore, was the last of the Macedonian captains, the friends and fellow-sol- 
diers of Alexander. He was now in possession of three out of the four kingdoms 
into which the empire of the great conqueror had been divided ; and he desired to 
revisit the scenes of his childhood, and to reign over the country which gave him 
birth. But he was assassinated by Ptolemy Ceraunus, on his way to Macedonia. 
Seleucus was succeeded by his son, Antiochus Soter.* This prince, after 
securing the eastern portion of his empire, turned his attention to the western pro- 
vinces. He gave Macedon with his daughter to Antigonus Gonatas. He died at 
Antioch, B. C. 261, after a glorious reign of nineteen years. His surname, Soter, 
was given him by his subjects in token of their gratitude for his preservation of 
them from the Galatians, who had invaded his territory. He nominated his second 
son, Antiochus Theos,t his successor. In the third year of the reign of Antiochus 
II., war broke out between him and Ptolemy Philadelphus. Neither of the com- 
batants appear to have gained much advantage in the struggle. But while Antio- 
chus was thus engaged in the west, Parthia, Bactria, and other provinces beyond 
the Tigris, revolted from his dominion. (B. C. 250.) Antiochus, therefore, made 
a treaty with Ptolemy Philadelphus, the terms of which were that he should repu- 
diate his half-sister-wife, and marry Berenice, the daughter of the Egyptian sove- 
reign, and that the first male issue of the marriage should succeed to the throne. 
Two years afterwards, 247 B. C, Ptolemy Philadelphus died, when Antiochus 
immediately repudiated Berenice, and restored his wife Laodicea. That queen, 
fearing his fickleness, poisoned him, and caused her son, Seleucus Callinicus,| to be 
seated on the throne. (246 B. C.) Berenice then sought shelter with her son, the 
heir by treaty, in the sacred groves of Daphne, but Callinicus tore her from the 

* The Saviour. 

t The god ; a surname bestowed upon him by the excessive adulation of his subjects. 
\ Illustrious Conqueror. 
Vol. I. 32 



2o0 



SYRIA AND ECVPT. 




sanctuary, and slew both her and 
her infant son. Ptolemy Euergetes* 
immediately took up arms to avenge 
his sister, and entering Syria, slew 
the queen Laodicea, overran the 
whole empire, and laid heavy con- 
tributions on every province. Com- 
motions in Egypt at length required 
his return home, and he made a 
truce with Seleucus for ten years. 
But Cailinicus was relieved from 
the fear of a foreign enemy only to plunge into a bloody war with his brother 
Antiochus Hierax.f That prince was so successful as to make it appear that the 
title of Cailinicus was bestowed on the king in derision. Hierax, however, was 
finally defeated, and fled to Egypt, where he was thrown into prison by Ptolemy, 



n A. 'i' T r. E OF I 



* Tin- O.HR-fiict.jr. 



1 Tljp Ifauk. 



A NT IOC 1 1 US 'J'lir: (illlOA'l' 



2ol 



and perislu'il some years after in attemi)ling to escape. (240]i.C.) Callinicus 
next ttu-ned his arms against the Parthians, but was defeated by their king Arsaces. 
(B. C. 238.) From this battle the Parthians date the commencement of their 
empire. In a second campaign, the Parthians succeeded in taking Callinicus pri- 
soner. Arsaces treated him with the respect becoming his rank, but kept him a 
prisoner, until he ended his life by a fall from a horse. (B. C. 226.) 

Seleucus III. next mounted the throne. Tbis prince was so weak, both in 
body and mind, as to obtain the ironical title of Ceraunus.* His conduct was so 
impotent, in a war which broke out B. C. 223, that two of his generals procured 
his death by poison. 




BATTLE OF RAPniA. 



The sceptre now fell to his brother, Antiochus III., who had been educated at 
Seleucia, on the Tigris. He came to Antioch, and immediately commenced the am- 
bitious and warlike career which won for him the surname of the Great. He reco- 
vered possession of almost all Asia Minor, Media, Persia, and Babylonia. He then 
turned his arms against the sovereign of Egypt, and wrested from him Coele-Syria, 
Phoenicia, and Palestine. But Ptolemy at last advanced to meet his adversary. 



* Tiuiiulor. 



252 SYRIA AND EGYPT. 

who sought an encounter with the confidence of victory. The battle was fought 
at Raphia, between Rhinocolura and Gaza. Antiochus was defeated with such 
loss that he immediately abandoned all his conquests and retired to Antioch. Peace 
was soon after concluded, Antiochus resigning all claims to the disputed territories. 
The Syrian king, after suppressing a rebellion in Asia Minor, turned his arms 
towards the east, where he succeeded in restoring much of the ancient supremacy 
of the Seleucidse. He also gained several victories over the Parthians and Bac- 
trians, but recognised the independence of both nations, on condition of their aiding 
him in an attempt to recover others of his former provinces. Ptolemy Philopator 
died 205 B. C, and was succeeded by his infant son, Ptolemy Epiphanes.* Antio- 
chus made war upon him, and also endeavoured to seize some of the provinces 
belonging to Philip of Macedon. But the Roman interference prevented the pro- 
secution of his ambitious schemes, and he resolved, by the advice of Hannibal, to 
wage war with them. The Carthaginian hero advised him to make Italy the seat 
of the war, but the Syrian monarch invaded Greece, where he met with continual 
misfortunes, and was finally routed at Thermopylae. (191 B. C.) His own terri- 
tories were then invaded by the Romans, and the war was finally brought to a 
close by the two Scipios. 

Antiochus was compelled to relinquish all Asia Minor west of the Taurus, to 
agree to pay all the expenses of the war, give up his fleet and his elephants, and 
deliver Hannibal and other illustrious foreigners to whom he had given protection, 
into the hands of their enemies. The great Carthaginian and another contrived 
to escape; but the remainder, with twelve hostages for the observance of the 
treaty, were given up. Antiochus soon after withdrew to the eastern provinces 
of his empire, where he endeavoured to meet his pecuniary engagements to the 
Romans by collecting the arrears of tribute. Two years after, he attempted to 
seize the treasures of the rich temple of Elymais, in Persia, and was slain by the 
natives in revenge for his sacrilege. (187 B.C.) His death occurred in the fifty- 
second year of his age, and the thirty-seventh of his reign. 

Seleucus IV., surnamed Philopator, and also the Tax-Gatherer, succeeded to 
the throne and the debts of his father. Having sent his son Demetrius as a host- 
age to Rome, to relieve his brother Antiochus, who had been there twelve years, 
Seleucus was poisoned by Heliodorus. Heliodorus was dethroned by Eumenes of 
Pergamus, and Antiochus assumed the sceptre. Antiochus marched along the 
coast of Palestine to Pelusium, where he encountered and defeated the army of 
Ptolemy. (171 B. C.) In the following year he overran Egypt, and took the 
young king, Ptolemy Philometor, prisoner. The Jews having revolted, he took 
Jerusalem by assault, put eighty thousand persons to the sword, plundered the 
temple of its treasures, vessels, and golden ornaments, and returned to Antioch with 
eighteen hundred talents of gold. 

The people of Alexandria now proclaimed Ptolemy Euergetes II. king. 

* Illiistvions. 



^-.: 



DEATH OF A NT IOC II US EPIPIIANES. 253 

Antiochus then marched into Egypt, and formally gave the government of the 
country into the hands of Ptolemy Philometor, whom he established in Memphis. 
The two brothers, however, made a treaty, and threw themselves on the protec- 
tion of Rome. Antiochus invaded Egypt, and was within four miles of Alexandria, 
when his progress was arrested by the ambassadors of Rome. The proud king was 
obliged to obey the orders of the Senate, and he journeyed homeward along the 
coast of Palestine. His fury and mortification vented itself on the Jews, whose 
capital was visited by an army under Apollonius, and its citizens plundered and 
slaughtered. He next attempted to introduce the Grecian customs among all his 
subjects, and established a uniformity of religion in his dominions. Many of the 
Pagans complied ; but the Jews, under the Maccabees, commenced a fierce contest, 
which resulted in the establishment of their former independence. During this 
war, Antiochus died of a loathsome disease. (164 B. C.) In his later years, he 
assumed the surname of Epiphanes,* which his cotemporaries changed into Epi- 
manesjf an alteration entirely warranted by his wild extravagances, his capricious 
alternations of temper, his dissolute and undignified character, and his savage 
cruelties. 

Antiochus, surnamed Eupator,J a child nine years old, succeeded to the throne. 
In his reign the war with the Jews was ended. Demetrius, the son of Seleucus 
Philopator, escaped from Rome, and succeeded in seizing the government of Syria. 
Eupator and his guardian were brought to him by their treacherous soldiers. 
" Let me not see their faces !" said Demetrius. The soldiers took the hint, and 
put them to death. (162 B. C.) 

Demetrius recommenced the w^ar wdth the Jews, but was totally discomfited 
by the great Judas, who, however, fell in an engagement. Jonathan, the brother 
of Judas, continued the conflict, and finally forced Bacchides, the Syrian general, to 
conclude a peace. (B. C. 156.) Two years afterwards, Demetrius retired to a 
new palace which he had built near Antioch, where he gave himself up to vicious 
pleasures, and abandoned the government to his ministers. They mismanaged his 
affairs, and created such a general discontent among the people, that Ptolemy 
Ariarthres, King of Cappadocia, and Attalus, King of Pergaraus, united to place 
on the throne a young man named Balas, whom they had instructed in the part he 
was to perform. Announcing himself as a son of Antiochus Epiphanes, he claimed 
the throne. The Romans, and the three kings who had put him forward, recog- 
nised his claim, and the Jcm'S, under Jonathan, took the field in his cause. After 
a short struggle, Demetrius lost his crown and his life, and Balas mounted the 
throne under the title of Alexander. (151 B. C.) 

In the following year Alexander married Cleopatra, the daughter of Ptolemy 
Philometor of Egypt, who conducted his daughter to Ptolemais, where the nuptials 
were celebrated with even unusual splendour. Alexander now suflTered himself to 
fall into that luxurious retirement which had proved so fatal to Demetrius. In 

* Illnstn'otifi. t Ar?(Iman. \ Wfll-fathcred. 



254 SYRIA AND E(iYPT. 

148 B. C, Demetrius, surnamed Nicator, the eldest survivor of the late king, 
landed in Cilicia, and collected an army with which he asserted his claim to the 
throne. Apollonius was gained over to his interest, and invaded Judea ; but Jona- 
than came from the mountains into the plain, took Joppa before his eyes, defeated 
him with terrible loss, and forced Ashilod and Ascalon to submit to his author- 
ity. Alexander, meanwhile, was shut up in Antioch, and Ptolemy came thither 
to assist him. But the minister of the impostor was detected in a plot against the 
life of the Egyptian monarch, who demanded that he should be given up. The 
infatuated Alexander, however, refused, and Ptolemy changed sides, and gave his 
daughter to Demetrius, who was soon seated on the throne. Balas fled to Arabia, 
where he was murdered. He left a son, Antiochus, surnamed Theos, who, some 
years after, was brought from Arabia by Tryphon, the governor of Antioch, under 
Alexander. The Syrians, who were dissatisfied with the government of Deme- 
trius II., joyfully received him, and forced that king to fly to the east. His wife, 
Cleopatra, however, shut herself up in Seleucia, on the Orontes, where she 
maintained herself against Tryphon, who had murdered the young king, Antiochus 
VI. Her power was daily increasing, and she would have been able shortly to 
place her husband again on his throne, had he not offended her pride and weak- 
ened her cause by his imprudence. He had attempted to bring the Parthians to 
their allegiance, but was surprised and made prisoner by them. Arsaces V., or 
Mithridates of Parthia, treated him well, and Demetrius sought and obtained the 
hand of his daughter, Rhodoguna, in marriage. Instigated by both policy and 
revenge, Cleopatra sent to Antiochus, the brother of Demetrius, who was at 
Rhodes, and offered him her hand and the kingdom. Antiochus eagerly accepted 
the proposal, and assumed the title of King of Syria. (141 B.C.) He was sur- 
named Sidetes, from his passion for hunting. He did not land in Syria until 139 
B. C, when Tryphon was defeated, taken prisoner, and put to death. 

Antiochus, soon after, made war with success on the Jews, whom he com- 
pelled to pay tribute. The Jews then assisted him in a campaign against Phraates, 
King of the Parthians, who had taken advantage of the recent troubles in Syria, 
to enlarge their territories. Antiochus regained possession of Babylonia, Media, 
and other provinces; but while the Syrian army was dispersed in winter-quarters, 
Phraates succeeded in a bold and sudden attempt to cut them to pieces. Antiochus 
himself was slain, and scarcely a man was left to bear back to Syria the news of 
the catastrophe. But Phraates had liberated Demetrius, that he might make a 
diversion in his favour in Syria, and the old monarch now again mounted the 
throne, and became a second time the husband of Cleopatra. 

Demetrius, soon after, invaded Egypt in aid of the queen of that country, 
who was in revolt against her brother and former husband, Ptolemy Physcon. 
But a revolt in Antioch caused him to return, and he soon after fell into the 
debauchery which had formerly lost him the throne. Similar causes produce 
similar effects : the people became mutinous, and Ptolemy Physcon put forward a 
competitor for the throne in the son of a merchant of Alexandria, who pretended 



TIURANES. 2oo 

to be the adopted son of Antiochus Sidetes. This young man, though derisively 
named Zebinas,* deprived Demetrius of his life. (B. C. 126.) Cleopatra, the 
wife of many husbands, caused her eldest son by Seleucus to be proclaimed king, 
but slew him two years afterwards, when he really wished to assume the regal 
power. Zebinas, who had assumed the name of Alexander, quarrelled with Phys- 
ton, who united his arms with those of Cleopatra, took him, and put him to death. 

Antiochus VIII., surnamed Gryphus,t now mounted the throne, but narrowly 
escaped being killed by his mother, who wished to retain the power in her own 
hands. He compelled her to drink the poison which she had prepared for himself. 
(B. C. 122.) Some years afterwards, Cyzenicus, the son of Antiochus Sidetes, 
and the half-brother of Gryphus, appeared as a competitor for the throne. After 
a civil war, the two rivals divided the kingdom, Cyzenicus fixing his residence at 
Damascus. Gryphus was assassinated 96 B. C, and his sons made war on Cyze- 
nicus, took him prisoner, and put him to death. His successors maintained the 
w-ar, and Syria was long distracted by their quarrels. The people at length grew 
weary of these continual and ruinous contests; and in order to be rid of them alto- 
gether, they offered the crown of Syria to the already celebrated Tigranes, King 
of Armenia. (B. C. 83.) He reigned gloriously for some years, when he became 
involved in war with the Romans, and was compelled to leave Syria for his home. 
Antiochus Asiaticus, a grandson of Cyzenicus, then claimed the throne, and 
obtained from Pompey the possession of a part of the kingdom. But when the 
brave Tigranes was defeated, the Roman general came to settle the affairs of Syria. 
Antiochus humbly sued to be confirmed in his kingdom, but he was refused, on 
the ground that he was too weak to defend the country against the Jews and the 
Arabs, and that, Tigranes having been overcome, Syria fell to the Romans by 
right of conquest, and they were not disposed to toil without a reward. Thus was 
deposed the last of the royal dynasty of Seleucus, which had ruled Syria for 
two hundred and forty-seven years. His dominions, together with Phoenicia, then 
passed into the condition of a Roman province. 

Ptolemy, called the son of Lagus, though generally supposed to be a natural 
brother of Alexander, was the wisest statesman among the successors of the great 
conqueror. When relieved by the battle of Ipsus from the long wars which neces- 
sarily occupied his whole attention, he applied himself with great and laudable 
diligence to the improvement of his dominions. The one great point of his policy 
was to attach to his rule the people of the different nations which had become 
subject to it. From this policy sprang the favours which he showered on the 
.lews and others, and the indulgence with which all were treated. This wise king 
established the most perfect religious toleration, and endeavoured to harmonize the 
differences of religious practices and opinions which existed between his Greek, 
Egyptian, and Jewish subjects. He revised the ancient religious and political 
constitution of Egypt, declared the temple of Phtha the national sanctuary, and 

* The broiinhi one, t Hook-nosed. 



256 SYRIA AND EGYPT. 

Memphis the capital of the realm. But the religion of the Greeks and Jews was 
tolerated in the same manner, and the temples of Isis and of Jupiter, and the syna- 
gogues of the Jews, stood side by side in the streets of the cities, and in the respect 
of the inhabitants. But while Memphis was named the capital, Alexandria became 
the metropolis of the empire, and the intention of its great founder was fully carried 
out by his successor, whose wise measures ere long rendered it the first commercial 
city in the world. This circumstance was calculated to attract the attention of 
the Greeks and Jews, and we find them, the latter especially, resorting to it in 
great numbers. Literature and science also, equally with commerce, were fostered 
and encouraged by the great Ptolemy. The museum at Alexandria, afterwards 
the centre of civilization of the world, was founded by him as a university for stu- 
dents and a place of assembly for the learned ; the first great national library was 
established in another part of the city, and philosophers and men of letters were 
invited to seek shelter from the storms which shook every other part of the world, 
in the tranquil land of Egypt. 

During the remainder of his reign, the Egyptians were free from the fear of 
foreign invasion, and its inhabitants, for the first time during several centuries, were 
enabled to develope the great internal resources of the country. Two years before 
his death he resigned the diadem to his youngest son, Ptolemy Philadelphus,* and 
enrolled himself among the king's life-guards. He had previously expelled, as 
unworthy of the throne, his eldest son, Ptolemy Ceraunus, the same who after- 
wards murdered his benefactor Seleucus. The death of the great king occurred 
in his eighty-fourth year, forty years after the death of Alexander. (283 B. C.) 
His grateful subjects surnamed him while living Soter,t and lamented him as a 
father, and worshipped him as a god, when dead. 

Under the peaceful administration of Ptolemy II., the Indian, Arabian, and 
Ethiopian trade was revived with the true spirit of the ancient inhabitants of the 
land of Egypt, and the enterprise of the Alexandrian merchants caused the valley 
of the Nile to flow again with the collected riches of the earth. But this tide of 
wealth brought luxury to the court of the king, who now first set to the future 
sovereigns of Egypt the pernicious example of marrying his ow^n sister. Ptolemy 
Philadelphus, like his father, was a great patron of the arts and the professors of 
learning. Under his auspices, the translation of the Sacred Scriptures from the 
Hebrew into Greek, commonly called the Septuagint,| was made, for the benefit 
of those Jews who had settled in Egypt. Ptolemy Philadelphus took occasion, 
when Pyrrhus was driven out of Italy, to congratulate the Romans on that event. 
They were much pleased with the compliment, and made a treaty with him. The 
war, which was commenced against Philadelphus by Antiochus, was supported by 
Ptolemy's generals. The Syrian king finally made peace, and took Berenice, the 
daughter of Ptolemy II., for his wife. 

* Brother-loving. + The Saviour. 

I From the seventy translators said to have been employed thereon. 



PTOLEMY EUERGETES. 257 

Ptolemy Philadelphus was succeeded by his son Ptolemy III., surnamed 
Euergetes,* after his triumphant return from his expedition into Syria, to avenge 
the wrongs of his sister Berenice. Though an immense quantity of plunder was 
brought to Egypt by the expedition, no territory was added to the dominions of 
Ptolemy ; but the southern wars of the same king acquired for him a great part 
of Abyssinia and the Arabian peninsula, and opened new roads for trade through 
those remote countries. Ptolemy Euergetes was finally murdered by his own son, 
who ascended the throne, and was honoured by his subjects for his filial affection 
W'ith the surname of Philopator. He was a mean voluptuary, abandoned to the 
most shameful vices, and entirely governed by the creatures and instruments of his 
pleasures. Antiochus took advantage of his character to make war on Egypt, but 
he was defeated at Raphia, as mentioned in a preceding page. After this victory, 
Ptolemy Philopator visited Jerusalem, where he attempted to invade the sanctuary, 
but being prevented by the priests, he returned to Egypt breathing vengeance 
against the whole Jewish people. It is said that he collected great numbers of 
them in a public place in Alexandria, with the intention of destroying them by 
elephants; but the Jew^s were miraculously preserved, and afterwards admitted to 
great favour. Soon afterwards the sister-wife of the king fell a victim to his vices, 
and her place was supplied by Agathoclea. But the continued dissipation of 
Ptolemy broke down his constitution, and he died of infirmity in the prime of life, 
B.C. 204. His son, a child five years old, succeeded him on the throne, under 
the title of Ptolemy V., to which was added the surname of Epiphanes.f The 
guardians of the king proved unworthy of their trust, and he was put under the 
guardianship of the Roman Senate. He w^as thus protected from the ambition of 
Antiochus, w^hose daughter he afterwards married. His reign, which lasted 
twenty-four years, was profligate and troubled. He was taken off by intemper- 
ance or poison. (B. C. 181.) He left three children, Ptolemy Philometor,'| 
Ptolemy Physcon,§ and Cleopatra, w-lio was successively married to each of her 
brothers. Ptolemy Philometor, when he had attained his fourteenth year, 
ascended the throne. He soon after fell into the hands of the King of Syria, wdio 
had taken up arms in consequence of the Egyptians in Coele-Syria and Palestine 
having revived their claims. The kingdom was afterwards divided between the 
two brothers, until the death of Philometor, from the wounds which he had 
received in punishing the ungrateful conduct of the impostor king of Syria, Alex- 
ander Balas. Physcon married his sister, who was left a widow by the death of 
her brother. He celebrated his nuptials by putting to death his infant nephew. 
His whole subsequent conduct corresponded with this commencement, and the Alex- 
andrians finally drove him from the thione, and gave the sceptre to Cleopatra, 
whom he had previously divorced, that he might marry her daughter. He was 
subsequently restored by a mercenary army, and reigned till his death. (B. C. 117.) 

* Beneflictor. ^ Illustrious-. 

I Motlier-loviiitr. ) Big-bellied, on account of his corpulency. 

Vol. I. oJj 



•253 



SYRIA AND EGYPT 



He left two sons by his niece, — Ptolemy Alexander and Ptolemy called Lathyrus, 
from a wart on his face, which resembled a small pea. The latter was summoned 
to the throne by the people of Alexandria in opposition to the wishes of his 
mother, who endeavoured to secure the succession to Ptolemy Alexander. She 
compelled him to exchange with his brother the government of Egypt for that of 
Cyprus. In 87 B. C, Cleopatra, finding that Alexander manifested some inclina- 
tion really to reign, attempted to get rid of him ; but he had timely notice of her 
intention, and put her to "death. The people, however, revolted a few months 
after, and expelled him from Egypt ; they then recalled Lathyrus from Cyprus, 
and restored him to the throne. The remainder of this prince's reign was j)assed 
in tranquillity. He died B. C. 81, leaving behind him one legitimate daughter, 
Berenice, and two natural sons, Ptolemy of Cyprus, and Ptolemy Auletes.* A 
long series of obscure civil wars, and uninteresting intrigues with the Roman 
Senate, followed. They ended in placing Ptolemy Auletes on the throne, which, 
however, he retained only three years. Auletes left four legitimate children; but 
his daughter, the too celebrated Cleopatra, set aside the claims of her brothers 
and her sister by the influence which her personal charms gave her with Julius 
Cffisar, and afterwards with Maik Antony. The battle of Actium was fatal to her 
and her protector. In the year following that decisive engagement, she was 
taken prisoner by Augustus Ca?sar, and poisoned herself to avoid being led in tri- 
umph. (B. C. 30.) Egypt thenceforth became a Roman province, but still pre- 
served its commercial importance ; and Alexandria long continued to be the most 
wealthy and busy city of trade in the world.f 



* The flute-player. 



t Taylor. 





AS C ALO N. 



SECTION III. 



THE MINOE KINGDOMS OE ASIA. 

HE kingdom of Lysimachus, having fallen to pieces 
after his death, passed through several changes before 
it fell under the dominion of the Romans. Pergamus 
was originally a part of it ; its founder was Philetsrus, 
a eunuch, who rebelled against the tyranny of the 
Thracian sovereign. Attalus I. and Eumenes raised it 
to eminence, and wisely secured it from the ambition of 
the neighbouring kings by placing it under the protection 
of Rome. The faithfulness of Attalus II. to the Roman 
interest was rewarded by a gift of the rich provinces 
that had been taken from the King of Syria. Attalus 
III. bequeathed the kingdom to the Romans, who made 
it the first of their Asiatic provinces. (B. C. 130.) Its 
kin<TS were generous patrons of literature and science, the first manufacturers of 
parchment, and the founders of a library which rivalled that at Alexandria, until 
it was transferred thither by Mark Antony. 

BiTHYNiA was coeval with Pergamus. Its most remarkable sovereign was 
Prusias, a devoted ally of Rome. He was murdered by his son, Nicomedes, whose 
paternal example was closely followed by his son, Socrates. Socrates was suc- 
ceeded by Nicomedes III., who died B. C. 75, and bequeathed his kingdom to the 
Romans. ^^^^^ 




260 



THE MINOR KINGDOMS OF ASIA. 



Paphlagonia was mostly included in the fortunes of Pontus, the vassal king- 
dom of Persia. 

Pontus became independent after the battle of Ipsiis, but its first king of any 
note was Mithridates VII., the Great, the last of its sovereigns. He mounted the 
throne when a mere boy, (B. C, 121,) and defeated all the schemes founded for his 
destruction by his treacherous guardians. Early inured to withstand severe hard- 
ships, and delighting in manly sports, he acquired great personal strength and 
courage, and early became formidable to the neighbouring princes, many of whose 
provinces he added to his own territories. He totally disregarded the commands 




WALIjS of ATHENS. 



of the Romans, who consequently made war upon him. His army comprised 
25,000 foot, 5000 horse, and 130 armed chariots. The Romans and their allies 
opposed to him an army of nearly equal strength, but they were unsuccessful, and 
he reduced all Asia Minor to subjection. Oppius and Aquilinus, two of the 
Roman generals, fell into his hands, and he caused molten gold to be poured down 



CAPPADOCIA — BACTRIA. 261 

the throat of the latter, in derision of the Roman avarice. All the Roman citizens 
in Asia Minor, with their wives and children, were put to death by his orders. 
He then invaded Greece, and captured Athens ; but he was beaten in Greece by 
Sylla, and in Asia by Fimbria. He then sought peace from Sylla, who granted 
it that he might destroy the ambitious schemes of Fimbria, the rival Roman gene- 
ral. The war was soon after renewed by Murena, the Roman proconsul in Perga- 
mus; but Mithridates defeated him, and soon after took advantage of the contest 
between Marius and Sylla to seize Bithynia, lately bequeathed to the Republic. 
He even invaded the Roman province ; but was driven out by a young student in 
Rhodes, who, though he acted without orders, was eminently successful. That 
student was Julius Caesar, first Emperor of Rome. The Senate next appointed 
Lucullus to take charge of the war. Though unfortunate at first, he succeeded 
in destroying the fleet and army of the king. But Mithridates sought refuge wnth 
his son-in-law, Tigranes, King of Armenia, who joined him in renewing the war. 
Lucullus defeated Tigranes, B. C. 70, but his own forces were routed by Mithri- 
dates. The war languished for a while, but Pompey took charge of the Roman 
forces, and drove Mithridates into the desert of Scythia. Nothing having been 
heard of him for more than two years, he was supposed to be dead. He however 
quickly undeceived and astonished his enemies by appearing in Pontus, at the head 
of an army, and capturing several important fortresses. But the people had 
become weary of the misfortunes to which they had been subjected by his uncon- 
querable spirit, and they began to desert his cause. His daughters were betrayed 
into the hands of the enemy by a ftuthless escort ; his array mutinied ; and his own 
son revolted, and was acknowledged king by the troops. Mithridates attempted 
to commit suicide, but he failed to give himself a mortal w-ound, and the Roman 
troops broke into his retreat while he lay bleeding. A compassionate Gallic sol- 
dier finished the work which the aged king had commenced, and ended the kingdom 
of Pontus with the life of her great sovereign. (B.C. 64.) Tigranes, the King of 
Armenia, which had first become an independent country after the conquest of 
Syria by the Romans, was involved in the fate of his great ally and father-in-law, 
Mithridates. His dominions afterwards became a bone of contention between the 
Rpm?ns and Parthians. 

Cappadocia was founded after the battle of Ipsus, but its kings partook of 
the character of the people, who were ever remarkable for their infamy. 

Rhodes. The Rhodians maintained a kind of independence long after the 
rest of the Greeks were enslaved. Their fleet bore a high reputation during the 
wars which followed, and served alternately on both sides during the civil war 
between Caisar and Pompey. Vespasian finally reduced the island to the condition 
of a Roman province, A. D. 70. 

Bactria. Two hundred and fifty-four years before the Christian era, Dio- 
dotus, the Grecian governor of Bactria, threw off the allegiance due to Antiochus 
II., and erected his province into an independent monarchy. His successors were 
able monarchs, who made such extensive conquests, that in the year 181 B. C, 



262 THE MINOR KINGDOMS OF ASIA. 

their territory extended to the Banks of the Ganges and the frontiers of China. 
The kingdom was finally ruined by the invasions of tlie nomads of Upper Asia, 
and her territories came under the domination of the Paithians. 

■ The kingdom of Parthia originated about the same time as Bactria, in the 
defection of Arsaces, the Achaemenian, who boasted of a regular descent from Arta- 
xerxes Mnemon. His territory at first embraced only the region about Hecatom- 
pylos, but, under the able conduct of its warlike sovereigns, it wrested from the 
degenerate Seleucidse a great part of their dominions. The Parthians dated the 
commencement of their empire from the great victory gained by Arsaces II. over 
Seleucus Callinicus. Antiochus the Great acknowledged their independence, and 
they succeeded in incorporating with themselves the hordes who destroyed the 
Bactrian monarchy, and were masters of the whole country from the Euphrates 
to the Indus, when Mithridates of Pontus fell, and the Romans commenced with 
them a contest for the empire of the world. Crassus began hostilities by invading 
the country; but his army was annihilated, and himself slain. (B.C. 53.) The 
attention of the Romans was now diverted from the Parthians by their own civil 
wars. During the reign of Augustus, they purchased peace by surrendering the 
standards taken from Crassus. The government of the Parthians was a monarchy, 
limited by a powerful body of nobles. Their kings were all chosen from the 
family of Arsaces, though without any determinate order of succession. They 
maintained their independence against the Romans, but were brought into subjec- 
tion by Ardisheer Babegan, who raised the standard of Persia, and drove the Par- 
thians to their native mountains. (226 A. D.) 

Idumea. The north-western portion of Arabia, touching on Egypt and 
Syria, was called Nabathaea, from its chief tribe ; Idumea, from the Edomites or 
descendants of Esau, who dwelt in it ; and Arabia Petraea, from the name of its 
chief city, Petra. This city, the Bozrah of the Old Testament, w\ns situated in a 
deep valley at the foot of Mount Hor. The only access to it was through a defile, 
partly natural and partly cut through the solid rocks, which hung over the pas- 
sage, and often intercepted the view of the heavens. The breadth of this pass is 
barely sufficient for two horsemen to ride abreast, and near the entrance a bold 
arch is thrown at a great height, connecting the opposite cliffs. The pass gradu- 
ally slopes downward for about two miles, the mountain ridge still retaining its 
level until, at the close of the dark perspective, a multitude of columns, statues, 
and graceful cornices burst upon the view, retaining at the present day their forms 
and colours as httle injured by time as if they were just fresh from the chisel. 
The sides of the mountain are covered with countless excavations, of which some 
were private dwellings and some sepulchres. This impregnable fortress, which 
was situated in a generally fruitful country, and commanded the great roads by 
which the earliest commercial caravans travelled, came into the possession of the 
Edomites, the descendants of Esau, while the children of Israel yet laboured in 
Egyptian bondage. At the time of David's accession to the throne, the Edomites 
had considerably extended their terjitories, being in possession of Elath and Ezion- 



1 D U M E A , 



263 



.■■M 



w 




geber, on the Arabian sea, whence they carried on an extensive commerce with 
India and Ethiopia. David's general, Abishai, invaded their country, defeated the 
army, and rendered Idumca a province of the empire of the Jews. Eut in the reign 
of Solomon, Hadad returned from Egypt, whither he had fled when his country 
was subdued, and commenced a revolt. The Edomites were not, however, totally 
independent until the reign of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat. Hostilities were 
almost uninterrupted until Jerusalem was destroyed by the Eabylonians. During 
the captivity of the Jews, they invaded Palestine, and conquered the city of He- 
bron. Those who remained in that vicinity were termed Idumeans, while the others 
were distinguished as Nabathsans. Against this latter people Antigonus sent 
an expedition under his general, Athena^us. The Nabathffians were away at 
a fair in the desert, and Antigonus succeeded in surprising Petra, which he sacked. 
He marched back towards Syria ; but the Nabatha^ans, enraged at the tidings of 
the calamity, hastily collected their forces, and totally annihilated the army of 
Athenuius at Gaza. They returned latlen with spoil to Petra, which they sue- 



'^64 THE MINOR KINGDOMS OF ASIA. 

cessfully protected against Demetrius, who came to avenge his father's loss. 
During the wars of the Maccabees, the lihuneans took [jart against the Jews, but 
were completely subjugated by the heroic leaders of that people. (B. C. 130.) 
They then embraced the Jewish religion, and became so incorporated with the 
Jews, that the name of Idumean w^as entirely lost in the first century after 
Christ. 

The Nabathseans long maintained their independence, and Petra, the capital, 
was vainly besieged by Pompey and Trajan. It sunk by gradual decay, when 
the commerce which had caused its prosperity was tlirected into other channels ; 
and its recent discovery in the loneliness of its desolation has given a new revela- 
tion of its ancient splendour to the living age.* 

JuDEA. After the return from Babylon, the history of the Jews under the 
mild rule of Persia, is chiefly remarkable for the fidelity with which they main- 
tained their allegiance. When Alexander invaded the Persian empire, the Jews 
resisted him, while they could, but they submitted after the conquest of Tyre. 
During the stormy period which immediately followed the death of Alexander, 
Simon the Just possessed the high priesthood. Under his administration, the sect 
of the Sadducees, who denied the doctrine of the resurrection, was formed by the 
rich and powerful of the Jews. The lower orders of the people favoured the 
opposite doctrine of the Pharisees. The government of the Pharisees, while it 
remained in subjection to the Ptolemies, was equitably administered, and the trans- 
fer by the Jews of their allegiance to Antiochus the Great was both universal and 
ungrateful. Seleucus, who succeeded to the impoverished treasury and the heavy 
debts of his father, was informed by Simon, an expelled governor of the temple, 
that that edifice contained vast treasures. Seleucus sent his servants to sehe 
them, but Onias, the high priest, prevented the profanation, and made satisfactory 
explanations to the king. Onias III., however, was deposed from his office by 
Antiochus IV., who sold the high priesthood to Jason for four hundred and forty 
talents. Jason soon after paid one hundred and fifty talents more for the privilege 
of erecting at Jerusalem a gymnasium, or place for such public sports and exercises 
as were usual among the Greeks, as well as for permission to estabfish an academy, 
in which Jewish youth might be brought up after the manner of the Greeks. 

This attempt to Hellenize the Jews succeeded but too well ; the very priests 
neglecting their services in the temple to be present at the gymnastic exercises. 
Jason did not scruple to send a large sum of money as an oflfering to the Syrian 
Hercules. But the younger brother of Jason, named, in Hebrew, Onias, in Greek, 
Menelaus, secretly bribed the king to depose his brother and elect him to the high 
priesthood. He stripped the temple of its ornaments to pay the bribe, an impiety 
which drew forth the loudest protestations from Onias III., who had been com- 
pelled to live at Antioch. Menelaus freed himself from his remonstrances by pro- 
curing his assassination. 

* Arrowdiiiilli. 'i'uyior. 



R V: V ( ) I . T < ) F T 1 1 !•: .1 !■: W S . '-?();') 

Mcnclaus now pursued liis wicked career unrestrained, untU the multitude 
raised a riot in the streets, and killed the captain of the Syrian guard which this 
high priest had established to protect his person. The sanhedrim, or Jewish 
council, quelled tiie revolt, and sent three deputies to the king to explain away 
the occurrence. But the royal favourites, being bribed by Menelaus to thwart 
ihe intentions of the deputies, prevailed on the king to cause their assassination. 
The Syrians, however, showed their sense of the injustice by giving to the unfor- 
tunate ambassadors an honourable burial. 

While Antiochus was besieging Alexandria, Jason, hearing a report of his 
death, was admitted into Jerusalem by his partisans, and zealously applied himself 
to the destruction of his opponents. But the return of Antiochus (hove him into 
banishment, and he wandered from place to place, a fugitive and a vagabond, until 
he at last perished miserably, an exile in the strange land of Laceda>mon. Antio- 
chus, to insure the future quiet of the city, caused eighty thousand Jews to be put 
to death, or sold into slavery, and carried away the treasures of the temple to 
Antioch. 

He soon after gave the unfortunate Israelites a second exhibition of his spleen, 
when compelled by the Romans to evacuate Egypt. He then published a 
decree for Hellenizing all his subjects, which drove the Jews to desperation, and 
caused them to revolt. Their leader was Mattathias, the son of Asmoneus, from 
whom the family derived ,the name of Asmonean.* He had five valiant sons, 
Johanan (John), Simon, Judas, Eleazer, and Jonathan. The insurgents were 
only ten in number at first, but many pious Jews were daily added to their ranks. 
They at first held it unlawful even to defend themselves on the Sabbath day ; 
but when they saw a thousand of their men murdered in cold blood on that day, 
their eyes were opened to the danger of so strict an interpretation of the Mosaic 
code, and no similar occurrence happened afterwards during the war. All Judea 
was soon revolutionized, and several important advantages were gained over the 
enemy. Mattathias died 167 B. C, after appointing his third and most valiant 
son, Judas, to be military leader, and his second and most prudent son, Simon, to 
be counsellor. The contest now assumed the appearance of regular warfare. 
The Jews were everywhere successful ; their most signal triumph being the 
victory gained with a small army over an immense Syrian host encamped at 
Bethsura. This victory placed Judas in possession of all Palestine, except the 
citadel of Jerusalem, which was garrisoned by the Syrians. In the succeeding 
years, the bravery of Judas disconcerted all the efforts of the Syrian sovereign, 
who devoted almost his whole time to the preparation of expeditions against 
Judea. At length, however, Bacchides came to avenge a former general, whom 
Judas had defeated and slain. Judas was deserted by almost all his followers, 
only eight hundred remaining true to his interests. With these he charged the 

* The name of Maccabeus, applied to Judas, and afterwards to his successors, is siippoFod 
to liave been derived from a cabalistic word formed of M. C. B. J., the initial letters of the He- 
brew text. Mi ChaniokaBaaliin Jehovah — " Who is like unto thee among the gods, O Jehovah l" 
Vol.. I. 81 



266 THE. MINOR KINGDOMS OF ASIA. 

Syrians, and deieattd and pursued their light wing. But the left wing being 
unbroken, pursued him in turn. After a most obstinate engagement, the greates*; 
of the later Jewish heroes lay dead upon the field. This event took place not far 
from Modin, his native town ; and his brothers, Simon and Jonathan, having con- 
cluded a truce, were enabled to deposit his remains in the family sepulchre at that 
place. 

His brother Jonathan succeeded to his command. He pursued, with great 
success, Judas's policy of forming alliances with Rome and the Spartans ; made 
peace with the Syrians ; and received from Alexander Balas the office of high 
priest. His death at the hands of the treacherous Tryphon, 163 B. C, did not put 
an end to the increasing power of Judea, which now fell under the rule of Simon, 
Ptolemy, the son-in-law of Simon, murdered that prince, after he had reigned eight 
years. The two eldest sons of Simon shared the fate of their father, but Hyrcanus, 
the youngest, was recognised as head of the nation. He shook off the Syrian 
yoke, and incorporated the Idurneans with the Jews. He was succeeded at his 
death by his son Aristobulus, who shortly after followed him to the grave. The 
crown and high priesthood next devolved on Alexander Jannasus, a brave warrior, 
who was mostly engaged in suppressing the rebellions fomented by the Phaiisees. 
At his death, B. C. 79, he bequeathed the regency to his queen, and the crown 
to whichever of her two sons, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, she should find the most 
worthy. At her death, a civil war ensued between thfc ambitious Aristobulus and 
liis brother, w'ho was a weak and feeble prince, and who speedily became the tool 
of a crafty minister named Antipater. The Roman general Pompey finally settled 
the disturbances of the country by storming Jerusalem, and giving Hyrcanus the 
throne. Antipater, who now virtually ruled Judea, supported the interests of 
Ptolemy while he lived, and then won the favour of Csesar by aiding him at the 
time his forces blockaded Alexandria. His son Herod was made Governor of 
Galilee; but on the death of Csesar, Antipater was poisoned, his eldest son put to 
death, and Herod driven into exile. Mark Antony, however, restored him to power, 
and made him king over the whole country. 

The rule of Herod was tyrannical and oppressive, the high priest Hyrca- 
nus, his own wife Mariamne, and several of his sons, being put to death by his 
orders. Accustomed to cruelty, and apprehensive of being hurled by his oppressed 
subjects from the throne which he disgraced, he found no difficulty in slaying all 
the childien that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years 
old and under, that he might compass the death of him who was born King of the 
.Jews. This wholesale murder was almost the last of the acts of Herod ; his 
subjects being relieved from his tyranny by his death, in the seventieth year of his 
age. He was succeeded by his son, Archelaus, who was compelled to appeal to 
the Romans for the purpose of reducing the people to order. That power divided 
the dominions of Herod among his children. Judea, with the title of Ethnarch, 
fell to Archelaus, but he governed so badly that the Roman emperor banished him 



DESTRUCTION OF J E R U S A l,K AT . 2G7 

into Gaul, and made Judea a Roman province, about the time our Lord came to 
the temple with iiis parents to celebrate the Passover. 

Pontius Pilate soon after became governor of Judea. He was a native of 
Italy, — a tyrant, cruel and vindictive when left to the undisturbed exercise of his 
power, but timid and pusillanimous when opposed. In the second year of his 
administration, A. D. 24, John the Baptist commenced preaching in the wilderness, 
but he was spared the pain of beholding the crucifixion of the Redeemer whom he 
came to announce, by his own death, at the hands of Herod Antipas, governor of 
Galilee. That prince, as is well known, had taken his brother's wife to himself, 
thereby exciting Archas, whose daughter he had divorced, to war. Herod 
was unsuccessful in the contest, the whole nation ascribing there misfortunes to his 
treatment of his adviser, John the Baptist. Pontius Pilate, some time after he 
had condemned to death the Saviour of the world, was stripped of his government 
and sent to answer charges of tyranny and misgovernment before the emperor; 
his defence was unsatisfactory, and he was banished into Gaul, where the stings 
of conscience drove him to the commission of suicide. 

Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, w^as raised to power in the 
reign of Caligula. While Claudius swayed the sceptre, he ruled over all the coun- 
try that had belonged to his grandfather ; but at his death, it was reduced again 
to the form of a Roman province. The principal governors seemed now only 
intent upon enriching themselves at the expense of the province, and robbery, riot, 
and murder were of hourly occurrence, while the bands of religious zealots con- 
tinually employed themselves in raising rebellions. Such was the state of the 
country, when Felix gave place to his successor, Porcius Festus, from whose tri- 
bunal the apostle Paul appealed to the throne of the Csesars. 

Albinus followed Festus, and after him (A. D. 64) came Florus, the worst 
governor that the Jews ever had. In order to prevent inquiry into his manifold 
oppressions, he resolved to drive the Jews into open revolt, a measure in which 
his success was much facilitated by the conduct of the people. They rose and 
murdered the soldiers of the governor, and defeated an army sent against them by 
the Governor of Syria. They then came to the resolution of braving the whole 
strength of the empire. (A.D. 67.) The Christians who were in Jerusalem, and - 
many of the Jews, retired to Pella, beyond Jordan, whither the war did not extend. 
Vespasian, the Roman general appointed by Nero to conduct the war, marched to 
Ceesarea, where he resolved to wait until the strength of the Jews should be 
exhausted by their factious quarrels. While the Jew^s madly seconded his design, 
he was called to the imperial chair, and his son Titus laid siege to Jerusalem. 

Three factions, struggling for the mastery, deluged the streets of the devoted 
(;ity with blood. The zealots and the Iduraeans, headed by the demagogue John 
of Ghiscala, formed one party ; another was led by Simon, the son of Gorias, and 
Eleazer formed a third band, and seized the upper part of the temple. While the 
enemies of Jerusalem lay encamped about the walls, the garrison and the citizens 
were daily engaged in sacrificing each other. Though Titus wished to spare the 



2m 



THE iMINOli KINGDOMS OF ASF A. 



city and its inhabitants, all parties united in the determination to defend it to tlie 
uttermost, and he was driven, against his "will, by their desperation, to work out 
the intentions of Divine Providence, and fulfil the predictions of Christ by the utter 
destruction of both the city and the teraple. The latter he was most anxious to 
save; but when, Sept. 2(1, 70 A. D., the city fell into his hands, the sacred edifice was 
fired by the soldiers, and burned with unextinguishable fury until reduced to a heap 
of ruins. The Roman soldiers, instigated by resentment at the unwonted opposi- 
tion, and by revenge for the losses which they had sustained, put to the sword all 
who came in their way, without respect to age, sex, or condition. The practice 
among the Orientals, with which the Roman soldiers were well acquainted, of 
burying money and valuables under ground in troublous times, led the avaricious 
conquerors to obey with alacrity the orders which they received to raze it to the 
ground. They even ploughed up the soil, in order to discover the hidden trea- 
sures, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Micah : — " Therefore shall Zion for your 
sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become as heaps, and the moun- 
tain of the house (the temple mount) as the high places of the forest." 

The victory of Titus was celebrated at Rome by a splendid triumph ; a tri- 
umphal arch which still exists was raised to commemorate the event ; and a nuchil 
struck, in which the captive land of Judea was significantly represented as a dis- 
consolate female, sitting beneath a palm tree, while a soldier, standing by, laughed 
at her misery, and mocked at her calamity.* 

* Pictorial Palestine. Taylor. Ri.tleck. 





THB TIHER. 



CHAPTER XI, 



ANCIENT ITALY AND SICILY. 



SECTION I, 



NCIENT Italy comprised the peninsula bounded on 
' the north by the Alps, on the east by the Adriatic 
Sea, or Gulf of Venice, on the south by the Ionian 
Sea; and on the west by the Tyrrhenian Sea. Its 
length from S. E. to N. W. is about 750 miles ; its 
breadth diminishes from 380 miles in Northern Italy, 
to about 80 miles at the centre. The country has been 
divided by geographers into three parts ; Northern 
Italy, or Cisalpine Gaul; Italy Proper, or Central Italy ; 
and Southern Italy, called Magna Graecia by the ancients. 
These were mhabited by numerous tribes, all appearing, from the similarity of their 
lano-unge and customs, to have descended from one common ancestry. 

Cisalpine Gaul, or Subalpine Italy, extended from the Alps and the River 
Varus to the Adriatic Sea. It was also called Togata, because its inhabitants in 
later ages adopted the Roman toga. The principal tribes inhabiting this division 




270 ANCIKNT ITALY AND « ICILY. 

of the peninsula, were the Vediantii, dwelling between the Varus and the Mari- 
time Alps; the Vagsenni, north of these, and near the source of the Padus. The 
capital of the latter was Augusta Taurinorum, the modern Turin. Among the 
mountains north of the Taurini were the dominions of Cottius, from whom the 
Cottian Alps received their name. 

That portion of Gallia Cisalpina lying between the rivers Macra and Varus, 
and extending from the Padus to the Mediterranean, was called Liguria. The 
principal cities of this region were Nicse, the modern Nice ; Portus Herculis Mo- 
ncEci (Monaco,) Albium Ingaunum (Albenga), Sabata (Savona), Albium Intenie- 
lium (Vintimiglia), Janua (Genoa), Portus Luna (Golfo di Spazzia), and Portus 
Delphini (Porto Fino.) Genua or Janua, was the principal of these, being the 
chief commercial town of Liguria. Pollentia, Asta, and Industria (the modern 
names of which are Polenza, Asti, and Tortona) were the largest inland towns. 

Beyond Liguria was Gallia Cispadana, the principal tribes of which w^ere 
the Lingones, Senones, and Boii. All of these tribes were celebrated for their 
prowess in war. 

Gallia Transpadana, or beyond the Po, extended to the Alps on the north 
and west, and to the Formio river on the east, which divided it from Istria. It 
was inhabited by the Orobii, the Insubres, the Cenomanni, the Euganei, and the 
Veneti. The principal towns were as follows : of the Orobii, Conrum, Bergamum, 
and Forum Licinii (Berlasina): of the Insubres, Mediolanum (Milan), Laus Pom- 
peii (Lodi), and Forum Intuntorum (Crema) : of the Cenomanni, Brixia (Brescia) 
Cremona, Mantua, and Verona : of the Euganei, Sabium, Voberna, Edrum, and 
Vannia : and of the Veneti, Patavium (Padua), Vicentia Ateste, (Este,) Forum 
Allieni (Ferrara), Tarvisum (Trevisi), Aquileia, Forum Julii (Friuli), and Tergeste 
(Trieste). The territory between the Formio and Zelevantura rivers was subse- 
quently conquered from the Veneti by a barbarous tribe called the Carni. 

Central Italy occupied that part of the peninsula lying between the city of 
Ancona and the river Frento, on the Adriatic, and the rivers Macra and Silarus 
(Sele) on the Mediterranean. Its divisions were Etruria, Umbria, Sabinum, 
Latinum, Picenum, and the territories of the Vestini, Marrucini, Peligni, Marsi, 
Fretani, Samnites, Hirpini, Campani, and Picentini. 

Etruria was situated between the Tiber on the east, the Macra River on the 
west, the Apennine mountains on the north, and the Tuscan sea on the south. Its 
original inhabitants were the Tyrrhenians. The country was governed by twelve 
ruling cities, of which Veii, Tarquinii, and Ca?re are in ruins ; the other nine 
were Vulsinii (Bolsena), Clusium (Chiusi), Perusia (Perugia), Cortona, Arretium, 
(Arezzo), Falerii (Civita Castellana), Volaterrse (Volterra), Vetulonium (Grosseto), 
and Russellse (Cerveteri). Etruria contained many other important cities, among 
which were Pisa, Portus Herculis Liburni, and Florentia ; the modern Pisa, Leg- 
horn, and Florence. 

Umbria was bounded on the north by the Adriatic, on the south by the river 
Nar, or Nera, on the east by the iEsis, and by the Bedesis and Tiber on the west. 



(JEOG RA I'lIIC AL OUTLINE. 271 

The cities on the maritime portion of Umbria having been conquered at an early 
period by the Senonian Gauls, have been already mentioned in the account of Gal- 
lia Cispadana. Umbria contained many cities, of which Sarsina and Urbinum, on 
the Adriatic side of the Apennines; and Iguvium (Ugubio), Mevania (Bagagna), 
Spoletium (Spoletij, and Ocriculum (Ocricoli), on the Etrurian side, were among 
the principal. 

The Sabine territory was separated from Umbria by the river Nar, and by 
the Anio from Latium. Cures, whose inhabitants, migrating to Rome, gave the 
citizens the name of Quirites, was one of its towns. Latium, originally bounded 
by the Tiber and the Circsean promontory, afterwards extended to the Liris, 
embracing the territory of the conquered tribes of the Volsci, ^qui, Hernici, and 
Ausones. Its principal cities were Rome, Tibur (Tivoli), Tusculum (Frascati), 
Alba Longa (Albano), Carsula (Arsuli), Valeria (Yico Varo), Alatrium (Alatri), 
Ferentinum, Anxur (Terracina), Aquinum (Aquiro), Interamna (L'Isola), Careto 
(GjEta), Fundi, and others. Picenum was bounded on the noi th by the river ^lis 
and the Adriatic Sea ; on the east by the Adriatic ; on the west by the Apennines ; 
and on the south by the river Aternus. Its chief towns were Ancona and Asculum 
(Ascoli). The territory inhabited by the remaining tribes of Central Italy was 
known by the name of Samnium. It contained the cities of Allifeea, Beneventum, 
and Caudium. Their inhabitants were fond of war, and, in defence of liberty, 
determined even to death. 

The third division of Italy, or Magna Graecia, contained the districts of Luca- 
nia, Bruttium, Apulia, and Calabria. Lucania was bounded upon the north by 
the Silarus, and upon the south by the Laus river. Its name was derived from the 
Lucani, who w^ere the principal people within its bounds. Psestum or Posidonia, 
celebrated for its ruins, and Velia, were its principal cities. Bruttium occupied 
the western peninsula, from the Laus to the Sicilian straits. The country was 
mountainous, and the interior was inhabited by the Brutti, a savage tribe, from 
whom the country derived its name. The principal cities were Consentia (Co- 
senza), and Petilia. Several Grecian colonies were founded upon the sea-shore. 

Apulia extended along the eastern coast, from the river Frento to the com- 
mencement of the eastern peninsula. The Aufidus river divided it into two parts, 
called respectively Apulia Daunia and Apulia Peucetia. 

The principal cities of the northern portion, or Apulia Daunia, were Sipuntum 
and Luceria. Barium, Cannae, and Venusia, were the most important places in 
Apulia Peucetia. Calabria was the eastern tongue of land forming the heel of 
the boot to which Italy has been compared. Brundusium and Callipolis were its 
chief cities. 

The Alps, which form the northern boundary of the peninsula, and the Apen- 
nines, which extend in a longitudinal direction through it, are the principal moun- 
tains of Italy. The rivers of Cisalpine Gaul are the Padus or Po, with its tributa- 
ries ; the Athcsis (Adige), the Plavis (Piave), and other smaller streams. Italia 



272 ANCIENT ITALY AND SICILY. 

Propria contains the Arnus, the Anio (Teverone), the Liris (Garigliano), the Vul- 
turnus (Voltorno)j the Sagrus, and the Tifernus. 

The largest streams of Magna Gra^cia are the Brandanus, Aufidus and 
Cerbakis. 

The islands of Sicily, Sardinia, and Corsica, were generally considered as 
forming a part of Italy. Sicily is situated at the southern extremity of the penin- 
sula, from which it is separated by the straits of Messina. It is a large and fertile 
island, and occupies a conspicuous place in history, from the long and bloody wars 
of which it was the theatre. Its name was derived from the Sicuh, who were the 
principal among the barbarous tribes that were its early inhabitants. Its shape 
was nearly triangular; the promontories of Pelorum, Lilybseum, and Pachynum, 
forming the extremities. Its most important town was Syracuse, the ancient capi- 
tal. This city, which was situated on the eastern shore of the island, consisted of 
four quarters, or towns, surrounded by a wall eighteen miles in circumference. 
The largest of these quarters, called Arcadia, contained the hall of justice and 
the temple of Jupiter Olympus. Tyche, the second quarter, was adorned by 
several temples, and the gymnasium for the exercise of youth stood within its 
limits. The third quarter was an island, called Ortygia ; it was connected with 
the main land by a bridge. The temples of Diana and Minerva were its principal 
buildings. The fourth quarter, called Neapolis, comprised the newest portion of 
the city ; it contained the temples of Ceres and Proserpine, and the celebrated 
statue of Apollo Temenites. The celebrated cave of Latomise, excavated by 
order of the tyrant Dionysius, for a prison for his political enemies, was near the 
city of Syracuse. 

Sicily contained many other large cities, among which were Camarina, Gela, 
Agrigentum, formerly the rival of Syracuse, Lilybaeum, Panormus (Palermo), the 
present capital, and Adranum. Sicily was traversed by mountainous ranges, which 
extended towards the extremities of the island, and united near the northern coast. 
Conspicuous among these was the celebrated volcano. Mount i?Ltna, whose internal 
fires have continued to burn with unremitting fury, from the earliest antiquity. 

Corsica and Sardinia are situated in the Mediterranean Sea, northwest of 
Sicily, between Italy and Spain. Corsica was peopled by the Ligurians. Its towns 
were Mantinorum Oppidum and Urcenium, the modern Ajaccio, the birthplace of 
Napoleon. Sardinia received its name from Sardus, son of Hercules, who founded 
an African colony upon its shores. Caralis and Albia were its principal towns. 
Corsica and Sardinia were colonized by the Carthaginians, and fell into the hands 
of the Romans at the destruction of the Carthaginian power. (B. C. 23.)* 

* Butler. Taylor. 




SECTION II, 



. E c i € in it S •« |) a i& i tB E 1 ^ si ]J 1 a I g . 



HE outline of Italy, says Niebuhr, presents a geogra- 
phical unity which leads to the erroneous opinion that 
this country must have been regarded as a whole and 
named as such from the earliest times. It was not, 
however, until considerably later, comprised within its 
natural boundaries under that exclusive name. When 
the Greeks began to visit the west, the original tribes, 
strikingly distinct from each other in language, were 
still numerous ; and they subdivided the countries ac- 
cording to the principal races known to them in Italy. 
From their settlement on the coast of Italy to the time 
of the Macedonians, they seem to have divided that 
country principally in reference to the nations whom 
they found ruling along the coasts, into Italy, Ausonia 
or Opica, Tyrrhenia, Japygia, and Umbria.* As regards other names sometimes 
applied to the whole peninsula of Italy, it may be remarked that they are in strict- 
ness names only of particular parts, extended by poetic usage to the whole country. 
Thus CEnotria properly applies to a part of the south-eastern coast, and was given 
by the Greeks to this portion of the country from the numerous vines which grew 
there, the name importing " wine land."! 

Italy originally consisted of that peninsula which is bounded by the isthmus 
lying between the bays of Scylaceum and Napetinum. The name, which is of 
native origin, was deduced by the early Greeks, according to their usual custom, 
from one of the native kings. The Romans probably borrowed the word when a 




* Niebuhr's Roman History. 
Vol. I. 35 



t Munnert, Geograiiliy, vol. 9. AiiUioii's Class Die. 

(273) 



274 ANCIENT ITALY AND SICILY. 

name was necessary to designate that aggregate which was formed by their 
ascendancy towards the end of the fifth century from the founding of Rome, 254 
years before Christ.* 

With respect to the origin of the (Enotrians, Pherecydesf states that they 
derived their name from ffinotrus, one of the sons of Lycaon, as the Peucetians 
on the Ionian Gulf had theirs from his brother Peucetus. Niebuhr considers the 
(Enotrians the Epriotes, and the Peucetians as branches of the Pelasgian stock, 
though he asserts that such an affinity does not necessarily imply emigration.! 
The Qilnotrians followed the pastoral life until Italus, a powerful, wase, and 
brave man, partly by persuasion, partly by force, united them into one nation, 
introduced agriculture, and established laws ; and the people whom he thus 
reformed called themselves and their country by his name. Between (Enotria and 
Tyrrhenia was the country of the Ausonians, Opici or Oscans. It extended from 
Laos to the Tiber, and at one time included Samnium. But the Sabelli settled 
there, and completely exterminated their numerous tribes. The language of the 
Ausonians, whose history and grandeur belong to remote antiquity, was intelligible 
to the Romans, whose language is compounded of Greek and Oscan. The Volsci 
and the /Equi were of the Ausonian stock, and so intimately connected that it is 
frequently impossible to consider them as a distinct people. But a small remnant 
of the Ausonians remained in the time of the Romans ; and in the ordinary language 
of Rome the term Osci was applied to the Sabellians or Samnites, who had entered 
and occupied their country, in the same manner as we call Englishmen Britons. § 

The Sabelli were one of the aboriginal tribes of Italy, and the most extensive 
and powerful at the time when Rome had passed the boundaries of Latium, when 
the Etruscans, after witnessing the fall of the Ausonians and the Umbri, themselves 
sunk into obscurity. Cato states the original home of the SabeUians to have 
been Amiternum, one of the loftiest of the Apennines, whence they spread their 
conquering arms over the lower parts of Italy, the district which has for three 
thousand years borne their name. In some places they dispossessed the aborigines, 
in others the Umbrians ; thus Picenum, the country of the Opici, and Campania, 
fell into their hands. 

The Fretani, on the coast of the Adriatic, were Samnites, and a band of the 
same race conquered and gave the name of their leader Lucius to Lucania. Many 
other small tribes have been supposed to be members of the same family, of which 
Scylax says, " the Sabellians ruled from one sea to the other, and five different 
languages were spoken amongst them." The Tuscans, or Tyrrhenians, who were 
calleil in their own language Rasena,|| are admitted by Niebuhr to be an aboriginal 
race, though Herodotus gives an account of their emigration from Lydia, and the 
accomplished Mrs. Hamilton Gray, in her History of Etruria, supposes them to 
have been a branch of the expelled Hyksos. By a train of probable conjecture, 

* Niebuhr. t In Dionysius Ic. 13. \ Niebuhr. 

5 Niebuhr. 1| Dionysius. 



THE ETRUSCANS. 275 

she traces them from the Assyrian city of Resen, to Lower Egypt, thence to Syrtis, 
in Libya, from which they sailed in a direct northern course to Umbria. Figures 
found on the monuments of Egypt, resembling the Etruscans in countenance and 
dress ; the similarity of the attributes of the gods of Etruria and Egypt ; the 
extraordinary similarity existing between the Etruscans and the refined people 
of Asia and Africa ; the Egyptian character of their style of art ; their sacred rites, 
and the Asiatic impress which is borne by Etruscan paintings of their feasts, dresses, 
ornaments, manners, and customs, are the reasons on which Mrs. Gray founds 
her Syro-Egyptian theory of the origin of the Rasena or Etruscans. Muller re- 
gards the Tuscan nation as an original and peculiar people of Italy, who received 
their civilization from the Pelasgic tribes of Lydia.* 

When landed in Italy, the Rasena, under their brave leader, Tarchun, first 
founded the city of Tarquinia, which was the seat of government, and the metro- 
polis of Etruria proper. The settlers soon became involved in wars with the 
Umbri and other Italian tribes, in all of which they were so successful that they 
at one time possessed absolute sway over the country from the Apennines to the 
confines of Umbria proper. Tradition states that Tarchun even crossed the Apen- 
nines, and founded twelve cities there; but of this we can only believe that the 
Etruria in the valley of the Po was colonized by the inhabitants of Southern Etru- 
ria. The Umbrians finally adopted much of the religion and most of the manners 
and laws of their powerful neighbours, and never afterwards attacked the Etrus- 
cans, nor deserted them, nor made any conquests separate from them.f Many of 
the pontifical institutions of the Romans were derived from the Tyrrhenians ; and 
even towards the middle of the fifth century of the city, the young Romans of 
rank were instructed in the Tuscan language and literature, as at a later period in 
the Grecian. I The fall of Etruria commenced about the end of the third century 
of Rome. In the following century she lost her Campanian colonies, all the 
country beyond the Apennines and Veil. The fifth completed her subjugation. 
Her fall was slow, but inglorious. At last the small Ligurian mountain tribes 
were strong enough to conquer her frontier towns, and to extend themselves deep 
among the Apennines. § 

Science and the arts had made great progress among the Etruscans. The 
magnitude and utility of their public works equal the famous monuments of Egypt. 
The most important of these were the dikes for fencing the delta of the Po, and 
the tunnels for draining the craters of extinct volcanoes. Their works in metal 
and pottery bear the impress of Grecian art. Their religion was strongly tinc- 
tured with superstition. Most of the Roman ceremonies, the rules of augury and 
divination, and the solemnities in the declaration of peace or war, were derived 
from them. The Umbrian nation consisted of several tribes, of which the Camertes 
and Sarsinates were the chief. Their brightest days had passed before the era of 
certain history : the Gallic invasion appears to have ended their greatness. The 

* Muller's Etrusker. \ Gray's Etruria. J Livy ix. { Niebuhr. 



276 



ANCIENT ITALY AND SICILY. 



Messapians, Peucetians and Daunians inhabited the south-eastern part of Italy, the 
heel of the boot, called by the Greeks lapygia. They were principally of Pelas- 
gian descent, and spoke the Greek language. The Messapians appear to have 
been a Cretan colony ; they were originally powerful, but were weakened by wars 
with the Tarentines. The Peucetians were from Illyria ; the Daunians from iEtolia. 
They were conquered by the Apulians, a branch of the Oscans. The Ligurians 
and Venetians were descended from the Oscan nation, which inhabited the shores 
of the northern Adriatic. The former made a brave resistance to the encroach- 
ments of the Romans, for more than forty years ; the Venetians, weakened by the 
invasion, submitted without resistance.* 

Polybius, and succeeding Greek and Roman writers, apply to the south of 
Italy the name of Magna Grsecia ; a terra which was not inappropriate, as it 
contained many cities superior in size and population to any of Greece itself. 
Achaeans, Chalcidians, Locrians, and Dorians, were the founders of the republics, 
which continued great and flourishing during several centuries. Tarentum, 
founded by the Lacedsemonians ; Sybaris, Crotona, and Metapontum, by the 
Achffians ; Locri Epizephyrii, by the Locrians, and Rhegium, by the Chalcidians, 
were the most important.! But powerful nations rushed down from the interior ; 
and the cities on the coast, unable, in their isolated position, to withstand the 
attacks, successively fell. In the fourth century of Rome, the wars of the Sabel- 
line nations with the tyrants of Sicily destroyed many of the Greek towns, and 
weakened the remainder so much that, in Roman history, they are considered in 
themselves of no importance. The Italians who lived amongst them communi- 
cated to the Greeks many of their manners and customs, and a number of words 
of their language. The Greeks, however, diffused their sciences, their literature, 
and even the civic use of their language, far beyond the countries in their imme- 
diate vicinity, throughout all Italy .J 



Taylor. 



t Anthon. Cramer's Anc. Italy. 



t Niebuhr. 



V .t \' 



VWE/ 




"^'/,ff'\\\^^^ 




CATANIA. 



SECTION III. 



'1^4©: 



^IC 




HE original inhabitants of Sicily are said to have been 
the Cyclops and Leestrigons. Of their origin we are 
entirely ignorant ; they inhabited the vicinity of Mount 
/Etna. The Sicanians were the next in antiquity. 
They were probably an Italian race, who had been 
drnen from their country by the Pelasgi; though some 
anaent writers declare them to be of Spanish origin. 
They inhabited the western part of the island, and 
weie said to have assisted the exiled Trojans in erect- 
nig the cities of Eryx and Egesta. After the Sicani 
haTp^^sTdthe island for some ages, the Siculi, an Ausonian race, invaded Sicily, 
and defeated them in a severe battle. They confined the Sicani within a very 
limited territory, and gave to the island its present name. Several centuries after 
they became masters of the island, a number of Greek colonies were founded upon 
the sea-coast ; principally by the Chalcidians, Megareans, Corinthians, Dorians, 
and Messenians. In addition to these, Italian colonies were founded by the 
Morgetes and Mamertines. The first Sicullan king was iEolus. Deucetius was 
their most celebrated monarch. He engaged in war with the Syracusans, but was 
beaten, and obliged to surrender. 

The Syracusans spared his life, but required him to reside at Cormth. 
Deprived of their leader, the Siculi were entirely conquered, and Triquetra, 
their principal city, was destroyed. When Nicias invaded Sicily at the head 



* Taylor. 



278 ANCIENT ITALY AND SICILY. 

of the Athenians, he was materially assisted by the Siculi, who seized the oppor- 
tunity to be revenged on their old enemies. They also assisted the Carthaginians 
in their first wars with Syracuse. Having been afterwards persuaded to aid the 
Syracusans, they were betrayed to the Carthaginians by Dionysius, and held in 
subjection, until they were liberated by Timoleon. 

The city of Syracuse, extolled by Cicero as the most beautiful in the Grecian 
world, was founded B.C. 734, by Archias, a Corinthian nobleman, whom political 
dissensions exiled from his native country. The constitution was at first republi- 
can, and the Syracusans early extended their power by founding the colonies of 
Acrae, Casmense, and Camarina. By the assistance of Corinth and Corcyra, Syra- 
cuse was preserved from falling into the power of Hippocrates, King of Gela ; but 
not without the loss of her colony, Camarina. 

The aristocracy, driven into exile by the people, fled to Gelon, then ruler of 
Gela, who espoused their cause, and took the city of Syracuse. (B. C. 485.) The 
city now advanced rapidly in wealth and power ; while Gelon acquired great 
renown in the war with Carthage. Failing to receive the appointment of com- 
mander-in-chief of the united forces of Greece in the war with Xerxes, he turned 
his attention to the defence of his own dominions. The Carthaginian general, 
Hamilcar, invaded Sicily and laid siege to Himera, which was governed by Theron, 
the father-in-law of Gelon. That prince marched against the invader, introduced 
a large body of cavalry into the Carthaginian camp by a stratagem, and gained a 
complete victory. Carthage sued for peace, which Gelon generously granted on 
favourable terms. 

Gelon, though originally a usurper, exercised his power so much to the 
advantage of his people, that they worshipped him as a demigod after his death, 
which happened B. C. 478. His brother, Hiero I., succeeded to his power. He 
cultivated the arts and sciences, and conquered Catana and Naxus. These he 
peopled with Syracusans and Peloponnesians, removing their old inhabitants to 
Leontini. He totally defeated the piratical Etruscans, who had become the 
terror of the western Mediterranean, and defeated Thrasydseus of Agrigentum. 
(B. C. 476.) He died B. C. 467, and was succeeded by his brother Thrasybulus, 
whose tyrannical conduct lost him the sceptre after he had held it eight months. 
The republican government was re-established, and most of the principal states- 
men were exiled. The Siculi, the ancient inhabitants of the island, revolted 
and commenced a war, which ended in their defeat and the conquest of Agrigen- 
tum by the Syracusans. (B. C. 451.) The Etruscan fleet was again defeated by 
that of Syracuse, in a severe action. In 427 B. C, the Athenians took part 
with Leontini against Syracuse ; a war ensued, which ended in the defeat of the 
Athenians. 

Eleven years after this event the Athenians espoused the cause of Segesta, 
against Syracuse, and invaded the Syracusan territory with a formidable armament ; 
but were totally defeated and driven out of the island. (B. C. 413.) In the following 
year the constitution was remodelled after the plan of Diodes. His criminal code 



T I M O L E O N . 279 

w«s considered so greatly superior to the former laws, that the citizens erected a tem- 
ple to his memory. Another dispute, between Segesta and Selinus, an ally of Syra- 
cuse, again involved her in a war with the Carthaginians, to whom the Segestans had 
applied for assistance. (B.C. 410.) The principal events of this contest have 
been already narrated in the history of Carthage. The domestic factions and dis- 
contents caused by the failure of the Syracusan arms, enabled the crafty Dionysius 
to attain to the supreme power. (B. C. 406.) This reign was marked by almost 
continual wars with the Carthaginians, the Siculi, and the cities of Magna Grfficia, 

The tyrannical conduct of Dionysius alienated the affections of the peoplp, 
and he died by poison (B. C. 367), leaving none to regret his loss. His youthful 
son, Dionysius II., succeeded him, under the regency of the virtuous Dion. But 
the influence of his guardian, and the advice of Plato, failed to improve the cor- 
rupted character of the king, who banished Dion, and gave full sway to his tyran- 
nical and licentious disposition. Three years afterwards Dion returned, overthrew 
the monarchy, and restored the ancient constitution. He fell by the hand of an 
assassin, B. C. 353. Callipus, his murderer, usurped the royal power, but was in 
turn expelled by Hipparinus, brother of Dionysius, who retained the sceptre for 
three years. 

Anarchy succeeded until B. C. 345, when Dionysius again became master of 
the city. His tyranny obliged the citizens to seek aid from Icetas of Gela ; but 
their treacherous ally having joined the Carthaginians, they were forced to apply 
to the parent city, Corinth. The Corinthians sent Timoleon, at the head of a 
small army, to the assistance of the Syracusans. By his skilful and vigorous con- 
duct, he beat Icetas and the Carthaginians, and forced Dionysius. who had fortified 
himself in the citadel, to surrender. The tyrant was permitted to retire to Corinth, 
where he ended his life in obscurity. The republican government was restored 
in Syracuse, and all the other Greek cities of Sicily. Tranquillity continued until 
the death of Timoleon, B. C. 338. For the next twenty years the affairs of 
Syracuse were in a disturbed and disastrous condition. In B. C. 317 the throne 
was usurped by Agathocles, whose bold career has been detailed in the historical 
sketch of Carthage. After losing most of his conquests, the war was terminated, 
B. C. 306, by a treaty which placed both parties in their original position. 

Agathocles was poisoned B. C. 289, and the government fell into disorder. 
Oppressed by their enemies, the people invited the Epirote, Pyrrhus, to assist 
them. He soon displeased them by his arrogance ; and Hiero, the descendant of 
the ancient royal family, was next called to the throne. (B. C. 270.) He defeated 
the Mamertines, and formed an alliance with the Romans, which procured for 
Syracuse a short era of comparative prosperity. Hiero died B. C. 216. His 
grandson, Hieronymus, was murdered, and the Carthaginian party acquired the 
chief power. Their intrigues caused a war with Rome, which ended, B. C. 212, 
in the capture and ruin of the city, notwithstanding the ingenuity of Archimedes, 
who added his exertions to the bravery of its defenders. The remaining cities 
fell with Syracuse, and Rome retained possession of the island. 




CHAPTER XII. 

HISTORY OF EOME. 

SECTION I. 






.1 of tl|ie 



-x^j^~ HOUGH widely and justly celebrated as the destroyer 
^-"-"•'' ■ \|^ of the credit of the traditional stories concerning the 
foundation and early history of Rome, Niebuhr appears 
to have had several predecessors. Bayle refused to 
credit these narratives, and Beaufort, though his views 
^' are often false, succeeded by his arguments in con- 
vincing many of their want of authenticity. Hooke's 
'M endeavours to refute him were mostly unsuccessful, 
»^' and Ferguson showed the effect which the treatise of 
Beaufort had produced upon his mind, when he passed 
rapidly over the history of Rome antecedent to the 
second Punic war ; but, at an earlier period, Perizonius 
had criticizsed the Roman history with great freedom and originality in his " Ani- 
madversiones Historicse ;" but he outstripped his age, and his disquisitions remained 
in obscurity. Bayle and Beaufort take no notice of him, and Niebuhr was igno- 




^. N E A S . 281 

rant of his inquiries when he pubHshed his history.* Perizonius anticipated 
Niebuhr in his perception of the poetical origin of the history of the early ages of 
Rome, and pointed out the evidence for the existence among the Romans of popu- 
lar songs in praise of the heroes of olden time. Niebuhr has done more, however, 
than those who preceded him, by resolving the vulgar narrative into its elements, 
and showing how it acquired its present shape. He has examined the whole sub- 
ject thoroughly, and made it impossible for any one ever to revive the old belief. 
Still, however, though we may now safely withhold our assent from a large por- 
tion of what used to pass current as the early history of Rome, we must take care 
not to carry this scepticism so far as to reject, by one sweeping sentence of con- 
demnation, every portion that has come down to us on this head. Though we 
may sometimes pause, says an old writer, when reading the early annals of Rome, 
and hesitate what judgment to form on many of the events which they record, 
there are landmarks enough to prevent us from straying too far from our course, 
and to lead us on safely to the terra firma of her history .f In the ensuing sketch 
of the history of Rome, we shall follow the course pursued by the learned Dr. 
Arnold ; giving in a condensed form the most striking legends, and the conclusions 
of the ablest commentators upon them. 

According to the traditions, iEneas, having suffered incredible hardships 
after the fall of Troy, landed with his household gods on the shores of Italy 
in a territory, which belonged to the subjects of a king called Latinus. He 
received the strangers kindly, and granted them lands. But they soon quar- 
relled with his people, and he called on Turnus, the king of the Rutulians of 
Ardea, to aid him against them. Latinus was killed in the war, his city fell into 
the hands of the strangers, and his daughter became the wife of ^Eneas. 

The followers of the Trojan prince and their conquered adversaries now 
became one people, under the name of Latins. Turnus then sought help from 
Mezentius, king of the Etruscans of Caere. The banks of the river Nimicius 
formed the scene of a third contest between the parties, in which Turnus 
was killed, and jEneas disappeared in the river. His son Ascanius continued 
the war, and slew Mezentius in single combat. He built the city of Alba Longa, 
which, many ages afterwards, was governed by King Procas. At his death he 
left two sons, Numitor and Amulius. The kingdom was forcibly seized by Amu- 
lius, and Rhea Silvia or Ilia, the daughter of Numitor, was made a vestal virgin. 
Going to draw water from a spring, she was seen and violated by the god Mars. 

Two sons, named Romulus and Remus, were the offspring of this amour. 
Amulius caused the children to be placed in a basket, which was committed to the 
mercy of the waters. The Tiber, which had overflowed the banks, subsided, 
and deposited them at the foot of the Palatine Hill. Here a she-wolf, coming to 
drink, discovered them, took them to her den, and suckled them with her cubs. 
They were at last found by Faustulus, the herdsman of the king, whose wife 

* See Niebniir's Rome, i., note 678. f Anthon's Class. Die. Cramer's Anc. Italy. 

Vol. I. 36 



282 R o M E . 

brought them up with her own sons on the Palatine Hill. When they grew up, 
the herdsman, for tlieir courage and abilities, caused them to be appointed leaders 
in the contests with robbers and rival tribes. In one of these, Remus, fighting 
against the herdsman of his grandfather, Numitor, fell into an ambush, and was 
carried to Alba. The noble bearing of the youth so moved Numitor, that he 
Avas unable to pronounce sentence upon him, but asked him who he was. He hnd 
scarcely recognised him as his grandson, when Romulus arrived. He had heard 
of the capture of his brother, raised a band, and marched to his rescue. Aided by 
the young men of the Palatine Hill, Romulus took the city, killed Amulius, and 
reinstated Numitor. 

Romulus and Remus asked, as a reward for their services, permission to build 
a city on the banks of the Tiber. This was granted ; but a dispute arose almost 
immediately after, and the brothers consulted the gods by augury to know which 
should give his name to the city. While watching the heavens at sunrise, Remus 
saw six vultures, and immediately after Romulus saw twelve, and was adjudged 
victor, having seen the greater number. Remus was dissatisfied with this decision, 
contending that, having seen the vultures first, his omen was the most favourable. 
Romulus proceeded to mark out the foundations of the city, which was done with 
a plough ; the furrow was turned inwards, and the plough carried over the space 
intended for gates. When the wall had risen to the height of a few feet, Remus 
leaped over it, saying, at the same time, " Shall such defences as these keep your 
city ?" As he did this, Celer, who had charge of the building, struck Remus 
with the spade which he held in his hand, and slew him. He was buried near the 
banks of the Tiber, on the spot where he had wished to build his city. 

The city is said by Varro to have been founded B. C. 753. It originally 
consisted of about one thousand huts, inhabited by herdsmen and banditti, whom 
the continual wars among the petty tribes of the country had inured to hardships. 

Their language was not called Roman, but Latin. Politically, Rome and 
Latiura were distinct, but their language was the same. It was different from 
the Etruscan and from the Oscan ; the Romans, therefore, are so far marked out as 
distinct from the great nations of central Italy, whether Etruscans, Umbrians, 
Sabines, or Samnites. From the manifest connexion of the Latin language with 
the Greek, it is probable that the Latins belonged to that great race which, in 
very early times, overspread both Greece and Italy, under the various names of 
Pelasgians, Tyrrhenians, and Siculians. But the Latin also contains another ele- 
ment ; one which belongs to the languages of Central Italy, and may be called 
Oscan. To this element Niebuhr refers all the Latin terms relating to arms and 
war ; and hence we infer that the Latins were a mixed people, partly Pelasgian 
and partly Oscan, and that they arose out of a conquest of the Pelasgians by the 
Oscans. The latter were the ruUng class of the united nation, the former were its 
subjects. 

Rome was built at the farthest extremity of Latium, divided from Etruria 



STRATAGEM OF ROMUIJIS. 283 

only liy the Tiber, and having llic Sabincs dose on the north, between the Tiber 
and the Anio. From all the other Latin towns, Rome, by its position, stood aloof. 
From tradition we learn that, being so near a neighbour to the Etiuscans and 
Sabines, its population was in part formed out of one of these nations, and many 
of its rites and institutions borrowed from the other. In the earliest ages of the 
city, the legends speak of a three-fold division of the people into the tribes of the 
Ramnenses, the Titienses, and the Luceres. The Titienses are acknowledged to 
be Sabines, and an Etruscan origin is assigned to the Luceres. It is possible, 
h.owevcr, that Etruscan rites first came in with the Tarqiiinii, and were falsely 
carried back to a later period. The first settlers of the city seem to have been a 
mixed race, in which other blood was largely mingled with that of the Latins ; and 
we may conceive that they were a band of resolute adventurers from various parts, 
practised in arms, and little scrupulous how they used them. Thus the origin of 
the highest Roman nobility may have greatly resembled that larger band of adven- 
turers, who followed the standard of William the Norman, and were the founders 
of the nobility of England. The descendants of these people formed the patricians 
of Rome; their dependants were the clients, while foreigners and»their offspring, 
neither citizens nor slaves, formed the plebeians, the commons of Rome.* 

The union of a number of families formed a house ; several houses composed 
the curiffi, ten of which w^ere connected together to form a tribe. The principal 
depository of power was the senate, a body consisting of one hundred of the •, 
wealthiest citizens. The power of electing magistrates and enacting laws 
belonged to the popular assembly or comitiffi. Each of the curia? had its priest 
or augur. When met for political purposes, their deliberations were opened 
with observing the auspices, or omens of futurity. If these were unpropitious, no 
business could be transacted. The centuries, which succeeded the curiae, were 
formed on a different plan ; the people were divided into classes, according to their 
wealth, each of which classes was subdivided into centuries. Each century had 
one vote. The first or richest class, containing a majority of the whole number 
of centuries, possessed, when united, the whole power. The poorer classes often 
insisted, upon important questions, that the vote should be taken by curiffi and 
tribes, that they might have that influence in public affairs to which their numbers' * 
entitled them. The religious affairs of the kingdom were also regulated ; priests 
were appointed, and regular forms of worship established. 

Returning to the legendary account of the reign of Romulus, we find him 
resorting to a stratagem to procure wives for his despised bandit subjects. Having 
proclaimed a solemn feast and public games in honour of Neptune Equestris, the 
people of the neighbouring tribes came in large numbers to participate in the cere- 
monies. While the spectators were eagerly viewing the scene, a considerable body 
of the Roman youth seized upon and carried off about seven hundred of their 
female guests. This outrage excited the hostility of the injured nations, who 

* Arnold. 



284 ROMR. 

attacked Rome under Acron, King of Ca'nina. Romulus, however, defeated the 
invaders, and added them when conquered to his own people. The Sabines 
continued the war with a powerful force. Tarpeia, the governor's daughter, 
admitted the enemy into the fortress on the Saturnian Hill, on the promise of the 
Sabines that they would give her the bright things which they w^ore on their 
arms. She wished to receive their bracelets and collars of gold, but they then threw 
their bright shields on her and crushed her to death. The Sabines and the Romans 
joined battle ; but the Sabine women, who had become reconciled to their lot, in- 
terfered and effected a union between the two nations. The Sabines were admit- 
ted to the rights of Roman citizens, and the government was jointly administered 
by the two kings. Tatius, the Sabine king, was shortly afterwards slain by the 
people of Laurentium ; and Romulus governed the united kingdoms. He extended 
his dominions by the conquest of the tribes iu the vicinity, until he was taken to 
heaven by his father. Mars, in a storm. 

After the death of Romulus, the senate governed the kingdom for one year. 
All parties, however, desiring a king, the Sabine, Numa Pornpilius, a just, wise, 
and holy man, was unanimously chosen. He was a mild and amiable prince, and 
occupied himself in improving the condition of his people. He promoted agricul- 
ture, reformed the calendar, divided the citizens into distinct trades, erected tem- 
ples, and regulated the religion of the country. He reigned forty-three years, and 
was succeeded by Tullus Hostilius, a warlike and impetuous prince. 

The system of mutual plunder carried on between the Roman and Alban pea- 
sants, produced a war between the two nations. The armies met about five miles 
from Rome ; but the ties of consanguinity cooled their anger, and rendered them 
unwilling to fight. It was finally agreed that the war should be decided by cham- 
pions, appointed by the parties, and the conquerors should rule peacefully over the 
others. 

There were, in each army, three brothers, born at one birth : the Romans 
were named Horatii, and the Albans Curiatii. To these the decision of the quar- 
rel was referred. They met in an open plain between the two armies. The 
Curiatii were all wounded in the commencement of the encounter, but they killed 
two of the Horatii. The remaining Horatius retreated, pursued by his wounded 
antagonists ; when, finding that they were separated from each other, he turned 
and slew them as they successively overtook him. A war with the people of Veii 
and Fidense soon followed, in which the Romans were victorious. The Albans 
refused to assist them, according to the terms of the treaty. Tullus sent Horatius 
to demolish Alba, and transported the inhabitants to Rome. Fuffetius, the Alban 
dictator, and his accomplices, w^ere slain for their treacherous conduct. The re- 
mainder of the reign of Tullus was 5pent in indolence. His house was struck by 
lightning, and he w'as burnt with it to ashes, because, says the legend, Jupiter was 
angry with him for having neglected the worship of the gods.* 

* Arnold's; Rome. 



TARQUIN. 287 

Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Niuna, was now chosen king. He con- 
quered the Latins, built the port of Ostia, and added Mount Janicuhun to the 
city. He died after a reign of twenty-three years. The children of the late king 
being minors, Tarquin, a merchant from Corinth, was appointed their guardian. 
Taking advantage of the power thus acquired, he made himself king. It is said 
that Tarquin, who was originally of ignoble rank, married a noble Etruscan lady, 
named Tanaquil. This lady, indignant at the treatment received by her husband 
at the hands of her relations, prevailed upon him to proceed to Rome, where it 
was said that strangers were held in honour. Arriving within sight of Rome, an 
eagle snatched away his cap, and, after soaring with it to a great height, replaced 
it upon his head. This omen Tanaquil, who was versed in Tuscan augury, under- 
stood to indicate his future power and greatness. He was received as a Roman 
citizen, and, by his courage, wisdom, and wealth, acquired great favour with the 
king and people. 

Tarquin's government was vigorous, and his arms successful. He gained 
many victories over the surrounding nations, and made himself master of several 
towns of importance. He defeated the Latins, beat the Sabines in several bloody 
battles, and forced the Etruscans to submit to his power. Many works of public 
utility were constructed during his reign, among which were the Circus Maximus 
and Forum, and the immense sewers, or cloacae, which drained the valleys between 
the Aventine, Palatine, and Capitoline hills. He was assassinated in his palace, in 
the 80th year of his age, by the sons of Ancus Martins : but Tanaquil having 
given out that he was only stunned, the murderers fled, and Servius Tullius was 
appointed king. 

This prince was the son-in-law of the late king, and his intended heir. 
He prosecuted the wars with the Etruscans, Veientes, and other tribes, with 
success, and improved the condition of the people. He divided the state into 
tribes, with a village in each, and instituted the classes and centuries. He also 
freed the slaves, and abridged the royal prerogative. His age and services, how- 
ever, did not protect him from the dagger of the assassin. His son-in-law, Lucius 
Tarquinius, to whom he had given his elder daughter, Tullia, conceived a passion 
for his wife's sister, the younger Tullia, who was married to Aruns. Their object 
was effected by poisoning Aruns and the elder Tullia, and the guilty lovers were 
united. Tarquin now claimed the crown itself; and entering the senate chamber, 
seated himself upon the throne. Servius, coming in haste to ascend the throne, 
was thrown into the forum by Tarquin, who secured his death by assassination. 
His mangled body was dishonoured by the inhuman Tullia, who drove her chariot 
over it as it lay in the road. 

The career of Tarquin was marked by cruelty and tyranny. He banished 
many of the patricians who were obnoxious to him, and confiscated the estates 
of the w^ealthiest citizens. He was equally dishonourable in his conduct towards 
other nations. He gave his daughter in marriage to Octavius Mamilius, of Tus- 
culum, a powerful Latin chief; and managed by force and stratagem to have Rome 



288 ROME. 

declared the head of the Latin confederacy. The Hernicians were also included 
in the league.* Gabii, a Latin city which had refused to submit to his usurpa- 
tions, was attacked, and, after a long siege, captured by stratagem. He carried 
on some of the public works commenced by Tarquin L, and completed the cloacae 
(sewers). 

The stories of the two Tarquins and of Servius Tullius seem at first sight to 
wear a more historical character than those of the earlier kings ; but the critical 
examination of Niebuhr and his successors has shown them not to be history. 
The great drains, or cloacse, exist to this hour to vouch for their own reahty ; yet 
of the Tarquinii, by whom they are said to have been made, nothing is certainly 
known. We are, in a manner, upon enchanted ground ; the unreal and the real are 
strangely mingled ; but although some real elements exist, yet the general picture 
before us is a mere fantasy. The dominion and greatness of the monarchy, how- 
ever, are attested by the vast works made at this early period and still existing, 
and by the treaty made with Carthage, which has been preserved by Polybius. It 
may be considered certain that Rome under its last kings was the seat of a great 
monarchy, extending over the whole of Latium on one side, and possessing some 
considerable territory in Etruria on the other .f MuUer regards the reigns of 
the later Roman kings as a period in which an Etruscan dynasty from Tar- 
quinii ruled in Rome, and extended its power far over Latium, so that it was a 
^lominion of Etruscans over Latins rather than the contrary. The dominion was 
interrupted by the reign of Servius Tullius or Mastarna, an Etruscan chief from 
Volsinii, of a party wholly opposed to that of the princes or Lucumones of Tar- 
quinii ; and then was restored, and exercised more tyrannically than ever in the 
time described by Roman writers as the reign of Tarquin the tyrant. The 
expulsion of the Tarquins would then mean only the recovery of independence 
by the eternal city.| Many changes in the constitution and in the national reli- 
gion appear to have been effected in the times of the later kings. 

Valuable changes that were introduced by " the good king Servius," were 
abohshed by the tyrannical Tarquin, who, becoming hated by all that was good 
and noble amongst the patrician houses, as well as by the commoners, was over- 
thrown by a joint and cordial effort of both orders. But he had destroyed a con- 
stitution that could not readily be restored ; and the revolution which drove his 
family from Rome, established, not a free commonwealth, but an exclusive and 
tyrannical aristocracy .§ 

The continued tyranny of Tarquin undermined his power, by creating a 
fixed hatred in the people towards him and his family. || Among those injured 
by him was Marcus Jimius. His son, Lucius Junius Brutus, had feigned idiocy, 
to escape the cruelty of Tarquin. It is related that Titus and Aruns, the sons 
of Tarquin, went to Delphi to consult the oracle respecting a prodigy which 

* Dionysius. t Arnold. t Muller's Elrusker. 

§ Arnold. |1 Dionysius. 



DKATII OF LIK-RETFA. 291 

had happened at Rome. A large snake had appeared upon the altar at tVie time 
of sacrifice ; the fire was miraculously extinguished, and the victim devoured 
by the serpent. The goddess answered, that the king should die whenever a dog 
should speak with a human voice. This was intended to apply to Brutus, who 
was considered an idiot. The princes also asked which of them should succeed 
the king ; and learned in answer, that it would be he who should first salute his 
mother. Brutus purposely fell, and kissing the earth, fulfilled the oracle. Shortly 
after, Tarquin marched against Ardea, the capital of the Rutuli. During the 
sieo-e, Sextus Tarquinius, becoming enamoured of the beauty of Lucretia, the wife 
of Collatinus, Tarquin's nephew, entered her chamber, in the absence of her hus- 
band, and by the basest artifice effected her dishonour. The next morning Lucre- 
tia sent for her husband and father. The former came, accompanied by Brutus, 
from the camp, whither the ravisher of Lucretia had fled. Her father, who was 
at Rome, also obeyed the summons, accompanied by his friend, Publius Valerius. 
Lucretia then related the story of her wrongs, and, calling upon them to avenge 
her injuries, stabbed herself to the heart. Brutus, drawing the fatal dagger from 
the wound, swore by the virtuous blood that stained it, that her death should be 
revenged upon the tyrant and his family, and that royalty should be abolished in 
Rome. The people, aroused to vengeance by the eloquence of Brutus, rose 
against Tarquin : the gates of the city were shut against him ; and the senate 
decreed his expulsion, and the abolition of monarchy. Tarquin, and his family, 
took refuge with his son Sextus, king of the Gabii. 

The substitution of a republican for a monarchical government having been 
resolved upon, Brutus and Collatinus were appointed consuls. They immediately 
set about securing the permanency of the liberal government. The people were 
assembled by centuries ; the expulsion of Tarquin confirmed ; and many of the 
useful laws of Servius Tullius were revised and re-enacted. A rex sacrorum, or 
principal priest, was chosen to administer the religious affairs of the state. 

The tranquillity of the nation was disturbed by the attempts of the exiled 
king to regain the supreme power. Through his intrigues, a conspiracy was 
formed in his favour, in Rome itself. Among the conspirators were three sons of 
the sister of Collatinus, two brothers of Brutus's vA(e, and his two sons, Titus 
and Tiberius. The conspiracy was discovered by a slave named Vindicius, who 
revealed it to the consuls. The principal actors were immediately arrested and 
brought to justice. Brutus sat as judge at the trial of his sons, and, with the 
feelings of a patriot, condemned them to be executed in his presence. He then 
retired, leaving Collatinus to preside at the other trials. Collatinus was disposed 
to extend clemency to the criminals ; but the people were not satisfied until the 
council condemned them to death. Vindicius was set free for his fidelity, and the 
estates of the Tarquins were sold, and the money distributed among the poor. . 

The pusillanimity of Collatinus rendering his abdication necessary, Valerius 
was chosen consul in his place. The Tarquins still continued to harass Rome, 
and united the people of Veii and Tarquinii in an attack upon the city. A battle 



292 ROME. 

ensued, in which Brutus and Aruns, Tarquin's son, fell by each other's hand. 
The war terminated w^ith the defeat of the Volsci. 

During the consulship of Valerius, a law was proposed by him, and passed, 
though vigorously opposed by the patricians, securing to the plebeians the right 
of trial by their peers. The first treaty between Rome and Carthage was also 
concluded about this time. Valerius was surnamed Poplicola, from his devotion 
to the interests of the people. At the expiration of his term of office he was 
re-elected, together with Titus Lucretius, the brother of Lucretia. During their 
consulship, Porsenna, King of Clusium, espoused the cause of the Tarquins, and 
commanded the Romans either to receive them back or return their estates. This 
being refused, he marched against Rome, with a powerful army, which was rein- 
forced by the Tarquins, and by the Latins under Mamilius, Tarquin's son-in-law. 
They expelled the Romans from the fort Janiculum, but the latter made a stand 
at the bridge which connected the fort and the city. The Clusians, however, 
succeeded in driving them across the bridge ; but were foiled by the bravery of 
Horatius Codes, nephew of the consul, who with Sp. Lartius and T. Herrainius, 
defended the entrance to the bridge, while their countrymen destroyed it. Lartius 
and Herminius retired across the last timbers, and Horatius, although wounded in 
the thigh, swam across the Tiber, and arrived safely in Rome. The danger which 
menaced Rome induced Caius Mucins, a young patrician, to attempt the assassina- 
tion of Porsenna. Disguised as a peasant, he reached the king's tent, where, seeing 
the royal secretary richly attired, he drew his dagger, and killed him, supposing 
him to be Porsenna. He was instantly seized and brought before the king, w^ho 
threatened him with tortures ; when he thrust his right hand into the fire w^hich 
was burning on the altar, and, holding it there until it was consumed, showed the 
Etruscan monarch the contempt in which tortures were held by a Roman. Por- 
senna, admiring his fortitude, set him at liberty : when Mucius, in return for his 
generosity, informed him that there were three hundred Roman youths sworn to 
take his life ; and that he would be constantly in danger. This, with the treachery 
of his allies, induced Porsenna to conclude a treaty of peace with the Romans, and 
evacuate their territory ; a large portion of which was ceded to him as a condition 
of peace. When Porsenna was afterw^ards defeated before Aricia, the kindness 
shown by the Romans tow^ards the fugitives from his army, induced him to restore 
the conquered territory. 

The Tarquins continued to pursue their hostile plans against Rome, and 
excited political dissensions within its walls. The Sabines, taking advantage of 
these dissensions, declared war against Rome. They were, how^ever, defeated, 
and obliged to purchase peace. 

Violent contentions now arose between the patricians and plebeians, respect- 
ing the law of debt. Assailed by foreign enemies, and torn by civil discord at 
home, it became necessary to appoint a dictator clothed with absolute powder, to 
quiet the turbulent elements. Titus Lartius, one of the consuls, .was appointed to 
this office, B.C. 497. By his vigorous measures, the seditious were overawed. 



CORIOF.ANUS. 29:i 

and the Latins, who had invatled the territory of" Rome, were totally defeated. A 
truce succeeded, but was broken by the Latins at the instigation of the Tarquins. 
Aulus Postumius was appointed dictator, and marched against the Latins, at the 
head of an army of 40,000 foot and 3000 horse. The hostile armies met near 
Lake Regillus, and a furious battle ensued. After a protracted contest, the 
Latins gave way, and retreated with great loss. Sextus Tarquinius was killed, 
and many others of the nobility, both Latin and Roman, fell in this engagement. 
The Latins abandoned the cause of Tarquin, who retired to Curare, in Campania, 
where he shortly after died. From the battle of Regillus commences a real history 
of Rome, at first feeble and obscure, but gradually becoming more connected and 
richer in historical incident. Down to this epoch the ancient fable was rich : the 
annals which succeed it are originally poor and meager in the extreme.* 

All danger from the family of Tarquin being averted, the quarrels between 
the patricians and plebeians recommenced with great animosity. The Sabines, 
Volsci, and Hernici, invaded and ravaged the territory of Rome, to the very walls 
of the city. They were met and defeated by a small army, under V. Servilius, 
and driven beyond the Roman territories. Again the Sabines invaded the repub- 
lic, and were beaten ; but the Roman army, enraged at the tyrannical conduct of 
the nobles, deserted their officers and retired to a hill, called Mons Sacer, about 
three miles from Rome. The haughty patricians were at first inflexible, but the 
numbers of the seceders, and the danger apprehended from the neighbouring states, 
caused them to send deputies to solicit a reconciliation. Their offers were 
accepted, and a treaty was made, by which the debts of insolvents were cancelled ; 
those reduced to slavery under the old law set free ; and the popular assembly 
invested with the power to elect annually five officers, called tribunes of the peo- 
ple. Their persons were declared sacred, and their duty was to watch over the 
interests of the people. Under the wise direction of Spurius Cassius, treaties were 
formed wdth the Latins and Hernici ; and thus the confederacy to w^hich Rome 
owed her greatness under the later kings was reorganized. Cassius also attempted 
to revive another part of the system of the Roman kings, by proposing an agra- 
rian law ; but he was impeached for his patriotism before the burghers, condemned 
and executed. 

All parties being united in defence of the city, the consul Cominius marched 
against the Volsci, who were defeated, with the loss of several of their towns. 
The Antiates, who had come to the assistance of the Volsci, were also beaten, 
after a brave resistance. The story of Caius Marcius now occupies the chief 
attention of the Roman annalists. He was a young patrician, who had acquired 
great renown by his bravery at the capture of Corioli, a Volscian city, and was 
therefore rewarded with the title of Coriolanus. The neglect of agriculture, occa- 
sioned by the constant wars in which Rome had been engaged, caused a great 
scarcity of corn. The distress consequent upon this, produced violent tumults, 

* Niebuhr. 



294 



ROM 




which were increaped by the tribunes of the people. A large supply of corn hav- 
ing been seat by Gelon, King of Sicily, Coriolanus proposed in the senate that it 
should not be distributed to the plebeians, until they resigned the privileges granted 
them by the new laws. Enraged at this act, the people would have doomed him 
to death, but he escaped by a voluntary exile. He took refuge among the Volsci, 
who raised a large array, and invaded Rome under the command of Coriolanus 
and Attius. The Romans offered no resistance, and town after town fell into the 
hands of the enemy, who finally encamped before Rome. The citizens vainly 
sued for peace, and the priests and the augurs met with no better success, when 
they came to implore mercy. The destruction of the city had been resolved upon 
by this foe to his country, and no milder terms of peace could be wrung from him 
than unconditional surrender. 

At the suggestion of a Roman lady, the wdfe and mother of Coriolanus went 
out to meet him, and succeeded, by their tears and remonstrances, in melting his 
hard heart. Without concluding a peace, he broke up his camp, \vithdrew his 
army, and disbanded it. He lived to an advanced age in exile, and often, when 
an old man, lamented his destitute condition amongst strangers and enemies. 

In the story of Coriolanus we have a recurrence of the poetical compositions, 
from which the earlier Roman history was compiled. The learned commentators 
often before quoted, have proved the legend unworthy of credit in its present 
form ; and Arnold, following Niebuhr, supposes it to have originated in the history 
of the losses sustained by Rome in the wars with the Mqui and the Volsci, during 
the ten years following the taking of Antium by the Roman confederates in the 



C I N C I N N A T U S A I' P ( ) 1 N '!' E i) L) 1 C T A T ( ) II 295 

year 286. The conquests were ctTeeletl gradiuilly during tliis period, a period 
marked in Rome by the visitations of pestilence and by internal dissensions, which 
drove many Romans into exile, who joined the armies of their country's enemies. 
In the year 294 we read that a body of men, consisting of exiles and slaves, under 
Appius Herdonius, a Sabine, made themselves masters of the citadel of Rome. 
There is, therefore, in all probability, a foundation in truth for the famous story 
of Coriolanus, but it must be referred to a period much later than 263, the date 
assigned to it in common annals ; and the circumstances are so disguised, that it is 
impossible to guess from what reality they have been corrupted. The easiest and 
apparently the most correct w^ay of accounting for his name of Coriolanus is on 
the assumption that, being banished from Rome, he settled at Corioli, and became 
a citizen ; and afterwards, when the Yolscians captured that city, he joined their 
army to prosecute his revenge against Rome.* 

The people, when relieved from their terrors by the departure of Coriolanus, 
demanded the passage of the agrarian law. This the senate was unwilling to 
grant ; and endeavoured to divert the minds of the people, by keeping the country 
constantly at war. For thirty years the history of Rome presents a continued scene 
of turmoil and confusion. Foreign wars and domestic disputes weakened the state, 
and increased the discontent of the people. At length the consular army was 
surrounded by the Ji^qui, B.C. 457, and was in danger of entire destruction. 
Some horsemen, breaking through the enemy's camp, brought to Rome the news 
of the dangerous situation of the army. In this crisis the famous Cincinnatus was 
called from his plough to the dictatorship. Assembling immediately all who could 
bear arms, he marched to the aid of the consul. A desperate battle followed, and 
Rome w\is victorious. Cincinnatus returned in triumph to Rome, where he laid 
down his office, and retired to private life. 

The old disputes were soon recommenced with great bitterness. The popu- 
lar cause was defended with zeal by Dentatus, a plebeian hero, who had fought in 
one hundred and twenty battles. The young patricians opposed him, broke the 
balloting urns, and dispersed the multitude that supported him. The continual 
commotions which had so long harassed the nation, finally became wearisome to 
both parties. Ambassadors were therefore sent to Greece, to collect the legisla- 
tive wisdom of that country. After an absence of one year, during which time a 
pestilence almost depopulated the city, they returned with a code of laws, gathered 
from the best systems of Grecian legislation. These laws were submitted to a 
body consisting of ten of the principal senators, called decemvirs. Their duty was 
to arrange the laws, and to add such new ones as might be deemed necessary. 
They were invested with consular power during their term of office, which was 
one year. In the performance of their duty, they produced the celebrated code 
known as the Laws of the Twelve Tables. (B.C. 4-50.) At the expiration of the 

* Arnold. 



296 K O M E . 

year, the senate permitted Ihein to retain their olhce, under pretence that new 
laws were necessary to complete the code. 

Having thus become possessed of absokite power, the decemvirs resolved 
to retain it. This excited the jealousy of the people, who were shamefully 
oppressed by the decemvirs. Meanwhile, the i^ilqui and Volsci invaded the state, 
and approached the very walls of Rome. The decemvirs took command of the 
army ; but on the eve of battle the soldiery deserted their standards and fled before 
the enemy. The decemvirs were blamed for this defeat, and the public discontent 
was increased by Dentatus, who spoke boldly against the tyrants. Fearing his influ- 
ence with the people, they sent him to the camp with a guard of one himdred and 
fifty men, who had secret orders to assassinate him. The old patriot was killed, but 
not until fifteen of his assailants had fallen by his hand. The public indignation at 
this cowardly murder was augmented by the feigned sorrow of the tyrants. 

Another act of oppression followed, which roused the people to vengeance. 
Appius, one of the tribunes, had conceived a violent passion for Virginia, the daugh- 
ter of a centurion named Virginius. This young lady was about fifteen years of 
age, and very beautiful. Appius would have married her himself, but was prevented 
by the laws forbidding the intermarriage of patricians with plebeians. He then 
bribed a creature of his, named Claudius, to claim her as his slave. The cause was 
tried before the tyrant, who adjudged her to Claudius. Virginius asked permis- 
sion to take a last farewell of his beloved daughter ; when, pretending to embrace 
her, he snatched a knife from a butcher's stall, which was near him, and stabbed 
her to the heart. Virginius returned to the camp with the bloody knife in his 
hand, and a multitude of the citizens in his company. The army received an 
account of the tragedy, and immediately responded to the call of Virginius for 
vengeance. They plucked up their standards, and marched for Rome. (B. C. 446.) 
The commons joined with them and the remainder of the soldiers, in leaving the city 
for an encampment on Mons Sacer, where they remained until the patricians 
yielded to their demands, and the decemvirs resigned. The right of electing tri- 
bunes was restored to the commons, and the patricians had again two magistrates 
with the power of the former prsetors, but now first called by the title of consul. 
Not long afterwards the consul Valerius passed a law by which the votes of the 
commons w^ere invested with the force of laws. 

Civil commotions were renewed in consequence of the exertions made by the 
tribune Canuleius to abolish the law against intermarriages between patricians and 
plebeians, and to open the consulship to the latter class. The repeal of the marriage 
law was conceded, after a difficult struggle; and the second popular demand was 
evaded by transferring the consular power to the annual commanders of the legions, 
w^ho were to be six in number, and one-half chosen from the people (B. C. 443). 
But even this concession was for some time rendered ineffectual by the senate. 
Tinder the ]iretence of informalities in the election of those officers.* Soon after- 

■*" Taylor. 



S I K (J K o r V E I I 



299 




COSTUME OF 



ROMAN CONSUL. 



wards (B. C. 440), new magistrates, 
called censors, were chosen, not only to 
regulate the taking of the census, but also 
to superintend public morals ; a power 
that soon enabled these magistrates to take 
rank among the very highest dignitaries 
of the state. These changes, however, 
(Ud not conciliate the people, and a severe 
famine (B. C. 436) aggravated their dis- 
content. In the miilst of this distress, 
Spurius Mfelius, a plebeian knight, pur- 
chased with his private fortune a large 
quantity of corn in Tuscany, which he dis- 
tributed gratuitously to the people. His 
object probably was to become the first 
plebeian consul, which laudable design the 
patricians perverted into the crime of 
aiming at the sovereignty. They there- 
fore appointed Cincinnatus dictator, who 
at once sent Spurius Ahala, his master 
of the horse, to summon Mselius before his tribunal. The knie:ht was standintr 
unarmed in the forum when thus called upon to take his trial ; he showed some 
reluctance to obey the dictator's command, and was cut down by Ahala. The 
dictator applauded this murder of a defenceless man as an act of patriotism ; but 
the people took a different view of the transaction, and Ahala only escaped con- 
demnation by voluntary exile.* 

While these events were transpiring in the city, the republic was engaged in 
w^ars with its old enemies, the Sabines, iEqui, and Volsci. These contests, 
though they produced no important result, generally ended in the triumph of the 
Roman arms. The King of Veii, an opulent and powerful city of the Etruscans, 
having killed the Roman ambassadors to the Fidenffi, the senate resolved upon the 
destruction of that city. Veii was accordingly besieged by the Roman army. 
The city made a vigorous defence ; and the war continued, with various success, 
for nearly ten years. Furius Camillus, who had rendered himself eminent by his 
successes against the Etruscans, was appointed dictator. The Latins and Herni- 
cians came to his aid, a mine was carried under the walls into the citadel, and all 
Rome came to aid in despoiling the common enemy. An assault was made on 
the walls, and the party of miners emerging into day, attacked the garrison. The 
city was taken and sacked, her inhabitants enslaved, and the images of her gods 
transferred to Rome. Capenia, the ally of Veii, fell in the following year, 
and Camillus carried his arms against Falerii. During the siege of this town, the 



*Tuv!or. 



oOO 



ROxAIE. 




ROMAN SOLDIERS. 



schoolmaster, to whom was intrusted the education of the children of the principal 
inhabitants, offered to betray his scholars into the hands of the Roman general. 
Camillus, informing the traitor that Rome warred not with schoolboys, ordered 
him to be tied, and whipped into the city by the scholars. This generous con- 
duct so pleased the Faliscans, that they submitted to the Romans, and Falerii was 
received into an alliance with the conquerors. 

Notwithstanding the services of Camillus, many were offended at his arro- 
gant demeanour in the triumphs w^hich followed his success. He was accused of 
having secretly appropriated to his own use part of the plunder of Veii, and fear- 
ing to abide the result of a trial, he went into exile. The Gauls had crossed the 
Alps in great numbers, and possessed themselves of a part of Etruria. They laid 
siege to the city of Clusium, an ally of Rome. The Clusians sought the assist- 
ance of the Romans ; and the senate sent three young patricians of the family of 
the Fabii to induce the Gauls to raise the siege. Brennus, their commander, 
received the deputies in an insulting manner, and they entered Clusium to take 
part in its defence. This act excited the anger of Brennus, who raised the siege 
of Clusiiim to surround the walls of Rome. He sent a herald to demand that the 



INVASION ov riiK (;aijls. 



301 




K K : R E A T OF THE R o W ^ N A H U \' 



Fabii should be delivered up to hira ; but the people refused the request, and 
elected them the first three of the military tribunes. 

At the river Alia, about eleven miles from the city, Brennus was met by the 
Roman army of 40,000 men, commanded by the military tribunes. The Roman 
soldiers were seized with a panic in the commencement of the action, and fled in 
great disorder to Rome, whither they were pursued by the victorious Gauls, who 
put a great part of the army to the sword. The Gauls stopped to pillage the 
slain, and the people of Rome and the defeated soldiers took refuge in Veii. 
Brennus marched towards Rome, and encamped on the river Anio. 

It being impossible to defend the city against such a formidable force, those 
of the Romans who could bear arms retired into the capitol ; while the old men, 
women and children took refuge in the neighbouring towns. About eighty of the 
most illustrious and venerable of the senators refused to abandon the city. Attired 
in their robes of office, they seated themselves each in his chair at the door of his 
house, and awaited the approach of the enemy. On entering the city, the Gauls 
were at first awed by the gray hairs and solemn dignity of these aged patriots, 
but one of them having stroked the beard of M. Papirius, the old Roman struck 
him with his ivory sceptre. Rage and the thirst for blood succeeded the feeling 
of reverence; Papirius was immediately slain by the Gaul, and his brethren shared 
the same fate. Brennus attempted to storm the capitol, but was repulsed. He 
next resolved to reduce the Romans by fiimine, but was compelled himself to scour 
the country for provisions for his army. 

The people of Veii and the Romans who had fled thither wished to open a 
communication with the defenders of the capitol, and Pontius Cominius undertook 
the adventure. He swam down the Tiber at night, climbed up the Capitoline 
hill, informed the besieged of the position of affairs without, and returned by the 



'A02 



R O JVI 1<] . 





STREET IN ANCIENT ROME RESTORED. 



same way unhurt. The Gauls, discovering the prints of the feet of Cominius upon 
the side of the hill, despatched a body of men by the same path, to surprise the 
Romans at night. The spot was supposed to be impregnable, and was therefore 
not defended by a wall. Even the watch-dogs slept, and no sentinel discovered 
their approach. The Romans, though pressed by hunger, had spared a flock of 
geese dedicated to Juno, and they were rewarded for their piety by the goddess, 
who caused the geese to cackle, and thus alarmed the warriors. The Gauls were 
all slain or thrown over the precipice by Marcus Manlius, and the guard who has- 
tened to his assistance. The Romans in the capitol, however, were reduced to the 
last extremity by famine, and the consul Sulpicius was obliged to open a treaty 
with Brennus. The Gauls agreed to evacuate the city, on condition of receiving 
a ransom of one thousand pounds' weight of gold. The gold being brought from 
the capitol, the Gauls weighed it with false weights. Sulpicius complained of this 
imposition, when Brennus threw his sword and belt into the scale with an insulting 
exclamation. At this moment, Camillus, who had entered the city unperceived, 
appeared upon the spot, and ordered the gold to be carried back to the capitol, 
declaring that Rome must be ransomed not with gold, but with steel. A battle 
ensued, in which the Romans were victorious. The next day, Camillus again 
attacked the Gauls, and succeeded in completely exterminating them. The army 
returned to Rome, laden with the spoils of the barbarians. 

The whole account of this Gaulish invasion is disguised by the national vanity 



MAN]. I US. 303 

of the Roniiins. \t is impossible to rely on any of the accounts which have been 
handed down to us : the Romans were no doubt defeated at the Alia ; Rome was 
taken and burned, and the capitol ransomed ; but beyond this we know, properly 
speaking, nothing. The truth probably is that the Gauls returned from the inva- 
sion of Italy loaded with spoil and crowned with glory. But that Rome was never 
ransomed at all, that Camillus appeared with the legions from Veii, annulled the 
shameful bargain, drove the enemy out of the city, and on the next day so defeated 
the Gauls that not a single man was left to carry to his countrymen the tidings 
of their defeat, is a falsification scarcely to be paralleled in the annals of any other 
people. It justifies the strongest suspicion of all those accounts of victories and 
triumphs which appear to rest in any degree on the authority of the family memo- 
rials of the Roman aristocracy.* 

Being freed from this formidable enemy, the tribunes proposed to remove the 
seat of government to Veii, on account of its natural strength and the security of 
its fortifications. This was opposed by Camillus, who urged the rebuilding of 
Rome. During the debate on the question, a centurion passing with his command 
called to his ensign, " Plant your colours, this is the best place to stay in I" 
The senators rushed out of the temple, exclaiming, " A happy omen ! the gods have 
spoken : we obey !" The multitude caught their enthusiasm, and exclaimed with 
one voice, " Rome for ever !" While the city slowly recovered from her calamity, 
the ^qui, Volsci, Latins, and Hernici, formed a coalition against the Romans. 
Camillus, being chosen dictator, marched to the aid of the tribunes, who were 
closely besieged by the enemy. The hostile camps were fortified with trees newly 
felled : Camillus, during a high wind, set fire to the fortifications, and whilst the 
enemy were in confusion, he attacked and defeated them. Thus Rome was freed 
from the assaults of her enemies. 

Manlius, the saviour of the capitol, soon found himself forgotten, whilst gra- 
titude, honours, and distinctions, w-ere awarded to his great rival, Camillus. A 
usurer was dragging an old fellow-soldier into slavery for a debt ; Manlius recog- 
nised the unfortunate debtor, and bought his freedom by paying the amount which 
he owed. The soldier was everywhere loud in his praise; and Manlius determined 
to sell all his estate, declaring that while he had a pound remaining, no Roman 
should be sold for debt. The name of Patron of the Plebeians was conferred upon 
him, and his house became a place of assembly for all classes of the commons. 
His increasing popularity caused the government to feel much uneasiness, and it 
was determined to procure his death or banishment. Manlius was summoned to 
answer the charge of defaming the government. He exhibited four hundred citi- 
zens whom he had saved from slavery by discharging their debts ; he produced 
forty honorary gifts which he had received from his general ; his fellow-soldiers 
came forward and claimed him as one who had risked his life in battle to save 
theirs ; he displayed the scars on his breast, and exhibited the armour of thirty of 

* Arnold's Rome. 



304 



ROM E. 



his country's enemies who liad fallen by his hand ; and, turning from the assembly to- 
wards the capitol which towered above the field of Mars, he no longer besought men, 
who had ungratefully forgotten every benefit, but, with uplifted hands, implored the 
immortal gods to remember in his present need that he had saved their temples from 
barbarian pollution. Many of the people had previously regarded him in the light 
of a martyr ; and so strong was the feeling in his favour, that his acquittal seemed 
certain. The assembly was therefore dismissed, without proceeding to the vote. 
Nothing further is certainly known of him than that he was put to death as a 
traitor ; Livy and others stating that he was thrown from the Tarpeian rock, from 
whence he had hurled the Gaul who led the midnight attack. His house was 
levelled with the ground, and a law was passed forbidding any one in future to 
build his residence within the precincts of the capitol.* 





TA-RFEIAN RG 



After this event, the patricians gradually acquired the principal influence in 
the state, and the liberties of the plebeians would have been entirely destroyed, had 
not two eminent men appeared among them to assert their rights. These were 
Caius Licinius Stolo, and Lucius Sextus. They were aided in their attempts by 
Marcus Fabius Ambustus, a patrician, who is said to have favoured the popular 
cause to gratify the ambition of his daughter, the wife of Licinius. Three demands, 
or rogations, were brought forward by Licinius ; the first admitted the plebeians 
to the consular office ; the second regulated the renting of the public lands ; and 
the third provided for the payment of debts. These were violently opposed by 
the patricians for five years, when the plebeians took up arms, and stationed them- 
selves upon Mount Aventine. Camillus, being again chosen dictator, saw that 



Livy. Nicbiilir. Arnolil. 



SAMNITE WAR. 



305 




ROMAN GENERAL AND STANDARD BEARERS. 



concession was the only means of restoring peace. The senate consented to the 
passage of the three laws, only stipulating that the consuls should no longer exer- 
cise the judicial power, which was vested in prastors chosen from the patricians. 
Having thus made good their claim to the consulship, the plebeians successively 
acquired participation in the dictatorship, the prsetorship, and the priesthood. 

In the year 342 B. C, a war with the Samnites employed the energies of the 
people. In the first campaign, the success of the Romans appears to have been 
doubtful. The legends are compiled from the records of the family of Valerius 
Corvus, apparently without the slightest regard to truth or consistency. In the 
second year of the war, we find that not only the Samnites, but the Pelignians 
were at war with Rome, and w^e have reason for believing that this contest wdth 
Samnium was greater than any in which the republic had been hitherto engaged. 
The war was ended by an alUance of the Samnites and the Romans ; a measure 
produced by the jealousy with which the latter regarded the Latins. 

During the consulship of Manlius and Decius, the Latins having attacked the 
Samnites, during a truce between the latter and the Romans, were ordered by the 
senate to cease hostilities. They refused to obey, when the consuls marched 
against them with a strong army. To prevent the confusion likely to arise from 
the similarity of language and equipments, Manlius commanded that no Roman 
should leave the ranks, under penalty of instant death. Metius, commander of 
the Latin horse, having challenged any Roman to single combat, Titus Manlius, 
son of the consul, accepted the defiance, and slew his adversary. The consul 
Vol. I. 39 



306 ROME. 

ordered his son to be beheaded for this act of disobedience ; but his body was 
afterwards buried by the soldiers with miUtary honours. A desperate battle fol- 
lowed, in which the Romans w^ould have been beaten, had not Decius, the plebeian 
consul, set an example of bravery, and turned the tide of war by rushing into the 
thickest of the enemy's ranks, where he fell covered with glory. This heroic con- 
duct inspired the Romans with new courage, and they defeated the Latins, who 
lost three-fourths of their army. They afterwards became entirely subject to 
the Roman power. 

The former war with Samnium had been speedily and amicably ended ; that on 
which Rome now entered, lasted twenty years, amidst striking vicissitudes of for- 
tune. In the first stages of the contest, the Greek city of Palsepolis was captured 
by the Romans, who then forced Neapolis to forsake the Samnites and become 
their ally. The Tarentines induced the Lucanians to revolt from Rome, and both 
of them joined the Samnite league. But Papirius Cursor, being chosen dictator, 
gained several victories over the enemy, who were forced to sue for peace. (B. C. 
321.) After a few months of unsuccessful negotiation, war was renewed under the 
Samnite Hannibal, Caius Pontius, of Telesia.* The consuls Veturius and Postu- 
mius having marched against him, Pontius determined to defeat them by strata- 
gem. Having placed his army in ambuscade near the defile of Claudium, and 
stationed guards at all its outlets, he sent ten of his soldiers, disguised as shepherds, 
on the road towards Rome. The consul, meeting the shepherds, was told by 
them that Pontius had gone to besiege Lucenia, a city of Apulia. Pressing onward 
through the defiles, the consul did not discover the stratagem until he found his 
army surrounded by the enemy. The Romans were defeated, and compelled to 
give up their arms and pass under the yoke ; while the consuls signed a treaty 
stipulating that they would evacuate the Samnite territory. (B. C. 321.) The senate 
refused to observe this treaty, and Papirius Cursor was again sent to lead the 
Romans to victory. After an obstinate contest, the Samnites sought peace. 
(B.C. 304.) 

In the second Samnite war, Rome had risen to the first place among the 
nations of Italy, while Greece had already witnessed the downfall of the empire 
of Alexander, and the assumption of regal power by Ptolemy and Seleucus. This 
war being ended, the iEquians, who had long been quiet, commenced hostilities. 
The power which had forced the proud Samnites to submission, speedily overran 
the country, and captured the towns of its new and feeble enemies. The jEquians 
were totally subdued, and were incorporated with their conquerors. A short 
and indecisive struggle soon after followed with the Tarentines. The Marsians 
also were compelled to cede a portion of their territory, as a penalty for having 
dared to oppose the ambitious designs of the young republic. In the year 298 
B. C, a new war broke out with the Etruscans ; and, while the Gauls prepared 

* Arnold. 



THIRD SAMNITE WAR. 307 

acrain to invade the territories of Rome, the indefatisrable Samnites renewed their 
former confederacy, and forced the Romans into the third Samnite war. The 
Roman confederacy, however, was more firmly united and more compact than that 
of its enemies. The vast amounts of booty captured by the Gauls caused them 
to quarrel about its division, until they destroyed almost the whole of their forces, 
so that the allies derived little advantage from their hostility to Rome. The con- 
suls, by a series of the most vigorous measures, broke the spirit of their enemies, 
and by the great battle of Sentinum, the Austerlitz of the Samnite war, in which 
P. Decius devoted himself to death, as his father had done before him, they gave 
a decisive blow to the fortune of the conflict. Carvilius and Papirius, the Roman 
generals, followed up the victory with prudence and success ; and though the great 
Pontius for a time suspended the fate of his country, he was finally taken prisoner 
and put to death by Q. Fabius. (B.C. 291.) The Samnites, having exhausted 
every resource, laid down their arms, and became dependent allies of Rome. 

Some years after the close of the Samnite war, the Gauls, Etruscans, 
Samnites, Lucanians, and others, determined to unite again in an attempt to crush 
their powerful neighbour. But their efforts were still more unsuccessful than 
before ; and the Tarentines, being oppressed by the Roman armies, and driven 
within the walls of their city, invited Pyrrhus, the Epirote, to come to their assist- 
ance. Pyrrhus, ever ready for such an adventure, sent an army of 3000 men 
under Cineas to take possession of Tarentiim, and not long after followed in per- 
son. The king had no sooner arrived than he put a stop to the feasting and 
debauchery in which he found the Tarentines engaged, and established a severe 
system of discipline. Meanwhile Lsevinus, the Roman consul, invaded Lucania. 
(B. C. 279.) Pyrrhus having reconnoitred the Roman camp from the opposite 
side of the river Siris, and perceiving the character of the troops, declined attack- 
ing them until the arrival of reinforcements. The consul, however, desirous of 
bringing on an action, crossed the river, and attacked the Epirotes. The battle 
commenced with great fury. Pyrrhus having exchanged uniforms wnth his favour- 
ite, Megacles, the latter was slain, and his armour carried to the consul. The Epi- 
rotes, supposing their king to be slain, began to give way ; but Pyrrhus, riding 
bare-headed along the line, rallied them, and renewed the fight. Lsevinus now 
ordered his reserve of cavalry to charge, and Pyrrhus brought forward his ele- 
phants, having towers filled with archers. The sight of these formidable animals, 
strange and terrible both to the horses and their masters, caused them to fall back 
in confusion. The infantry still fought bravely ; but being disordered by the flight 
of the cavalry, they were obliged to retreat across the Siris. Pyrrhus thus re- 
mained master of the field of battle, but not without the loss of very many of his 
bravest soldiers and his most intimate friends. 

He pursued the retreating army, and when joined by the Samnites, Lucanians, 
and Messa})ians, he advanced within eighteen miles of Rome. The return of the 
consul Titus Coruncanius from Etruria with a victorious army caused him to 
return to Tarentum, loaded with the plunder he had everywhere received. Pyr- 



308 ROME. 

rhus had sent Cineas to negotiate terms of peace ; but the Romans refused to nego- 
tiate until the Epirotes should have quitted Italy. The hostile armies again met 
near Asculum, a city of Apulia. The battle terminated like the first, in favour of 
Pyrrhus,* but he neglected to follow up his advantage, and the vanity of Roman 
writers afterwards represented the action as a triumph of their countrymen.! The 
hostile armies remained inactive until the spring, when the Romans again took the 
field under the consuls C. Fabricius and Q. ^Emilius. They advanced into the 
Tarentine territory, intending to give battle to the Epirotes. While waiting a 
favourable moment, one of the servants of Pyrrhus wrote to Fabricius, offering to 
poison his master. The consul, despising this act of treachery, informed Pyrrhus 
of the offer. In gratitude for this honourable treatment, the king clothed and 
released without ransom all his Roman prisoners, and then embarked his army for 
Sicily, to aid the Syracusans against the Carthaginians. During the two years of 
his absence, the Tarcntines were unsuccessful, and they were again obliged to 
implore him to come to their aid. In compliance with their request, Pyrrhus 
returned and immediately marched through the country of the Locri, who had put 
to the sword the troops he had left in Italy. He scattered destruction wherever 
he passed, and plundered the temple of Proserpine. The vessel in which the 
sacred treasures were embarked was wrecked in a storm : and Pyrrhus vainly 
sought to appease the offended goddess by returning the treasures saved from the 
wreck, and putting to death those who had advised him to commit the sacri- 
legious act. 

He now foimd himself opposed by two Roman armies, under the consuls 
Curius Dentatus and Cornelius Lentulus. Pyrrhus marched against the former, 
hoping to surprise him at night in his camp near Beneventum ; but, his lights failing 
him, he was obliged to halt. The morning revealed his army to the Romans, who 
immediately attacked him with great fury. Pyrrhus charged their line with his 
elephants ; but the Romans so galled these animals with their weapons, that they 
rushed back through the ranks of the Epirotes and Tarentines, carrying death and 
confusion in every direction. Pyrrhus retreated to Tarentum, resolved immedi- 
ately to evacuate Italy. He left a garrison in Tarentum, under the command of 
Milo, as if he intended to return thither. Four years afterwards, Milo followed 
his master to Epirus, leaving the allies to make the best terms they could with 
the Romans. Tarentum was soon after disarmed and fettered, and, with the cap- 
ture and destruction of Volsinii, the Romans emerged from the fourth Samnite 
war, the rulers of all Italy. 

The Roman dominion in Italy had wrested large tracts of land from the con- 
quered nations in every part of the peninsula ; forests, mines, and harbours had 
become the property of the Roman people, from which a large revenue was 
derived, so that all classes of the Roman citizens were enriched by their victories ; 

* IMutarcli, from Ilieronymus. + Arnold Livy. Florus. Cicero. 



THE GLADIATORIAL COM BATS. 311 

the rich acquired a great extent of hmd to hold in occupation ; the poor obtained 
grants of land in freehold by an agrarian law ; while the great increase of revenue 
required a greater number of persons to collect it ; and thus, from the quaestors to 
the lowest collectors or clerks employed under them, all the officers of government 
became suddenly multiplied. Many changes in the manners and condition of the 
people resulted from this influx of wealth into the state, not the least remarkable 
of which was the introduction of the gladiatorial combats, in the year that wit- 
nessed the downfall of Volsinii. (B. C. 264.) Two sons of Junius Brutus exhi- 
bited the first of them ever known at Rome, at the funeral of their father. The 
sacrifice of human beings at the funeral games of distinguished persons was very 
ancient and universal ; but the Romans are supposed to have borrowed from the 
Etruscans the practice of substituting a combat for a sacrifice, that the victims 
might die by the swords of each other. The horrid spectacle, from the beginning, 
excited the liveliest interest in Rome, but for many years it was exhibited only at 
funerals, as an offering in honour of the dead ; the still deeper wackedness of mak- 
ing it a mere sport, and introducing the sufferings and death of hiunan beings as 
a luxury for the spectators in their seasons of the greatest enjoyment, was reserved 
for a later period.* The great prosperity of the Roman people, added to the fact 
that it had arisen from success in war, made the commons anxious to find another 
enemy, whose treasures might be brought into Roman coffers, and whose captured 
citizens might supply them with slaves. Such an enemy was Carthage, whose 
naval superiority, while it poured the most unbounded wealth into the lap of the 
queen of the western seas, excited the jealousy and cupidity of the Romans. 

With more able leaders, and a richer treasury, but with a weaker people, an 
unguarded country, and with subjects far less united and attached to her govern- 
ment, Carthage was really unequal to the contest with Rome. While observing 
this inequality, in the course of the story of the war, we shall have more reason 
to admire that extraordinary energy and genius of Hamilcar Barca and his family, 
which so long struggled against it, and, even in spite of nature, almost made the 
w^eaker party victorious.! 

When resolved upon war, the Romans were never long in finding an occa- 
sion for commencing it. One of those petty events which frequently control the 
tide of human affairs, sufficed to bring the rival powers into hostile contact, and 
kindled the flame of a war, which ended in the total destruction of the Carthagi- 
nian power. Eleven years after the defeat of Pyrrhus at Beneventum, a deputa- 
tion of Mamertines arrived at Rome from Messana, praying the Romans to pro- 
tect them from their enemy, Hiero of Syracuse, and from the Carthaginians. The 
latter were trying to get possession of their citadel, under pretence of protecting 
them from Hiero, but the Mamertines preferred the alliance of Rome. Though 
the Mamertines were buccaneers, who, as the enemies of all mankind, had seized 
Messana, the Roman commons resolved to aid them, and forced the senate to 

* Arnold. t Arnold. 



31-2 



ROME, 



acquiesce in their determination. The Carthaginians having possessed themselves 
of the Messenian citadel, the Romans sent the consul Appius Claudius, with an 
army, to expel them from Sicily. JNIessana was taken, and the success of their 
first exertions inspired the Romans with the hope of conquering the island. Hiero, 
King of Syracuse, who had at first joined the Carthaginians, forsook their cause and 
declared himself upon the side of Rome. (B. C. 263.) Dis.-ippointed in their 
expectations of the easy conquest of Sicily, and stung by these reverses, the Car- 
thaginians hired an immense number of mercen«ries to defeat the Roman forces. 
Agrigentum, a place of great natural strength, and formidably fortified, fell into 
the hands of the Romans. (B. C. 262.) The success of their arms at Agrigentum 
aroused them to greater exertions, and they determined to humble the maritime 
power of the Carthaginians. One of the enemy's galleys having been accidentally 
stranded upon the coast, served for a model ; and a squadron was fitted for the 
sea, while the seamen were trained to navio-ate them. Duilius first eniraoed a 
Carthaginian fleet, B.C. 259, with his new force. An invention of Duilius's, 
which served both for a drawbridge and a grappling iron, enabled the Romans to 




PROTV OF A ROM. 



G A L L 3 Y . 



gain the decks of the enemy's galleys ; thus, fighting hand to hand, they captured 
fifty of the hostile vessels. The remainder of the fleet saved themselves by flight. 
This splendid triumph, the first naval victory ever achieved by the Romans, was 
commemorated by a column erected in the forum, adorned with representations 
of the beaks of vessels, whence it was called the rostral column. This monument 
still remains in excellent preservation. 

A second naval battle followed, B. C. 256, in which the Carthaginians were 
again defeated, with the loss of eighteen galleys. These brilliant victories demon- 
strated to the Romans the importance of maintaining a powerful navy ; and from 



DEATH OF REGULUS. 313 

that time, they constantly kept efficient fleets in the two seas of Italy. The in- 
creasing interest taken in the science of navigation is evident from the representa- 
tions of galleys which first appear at this era upon the Roman coins. After hos- 
tilities had continued for eight years, the Romans determined to carry the war 
into the territory of Carthage itself; knowing the disaffection of the native Afri- 
cans to the authority of the Carthaginians, of whose tyranny they had long been 
weary. A powerful fleet, consisting of three hundred and thirty galleys, was 
fitted out to transport the army to Africa, and placed under the command of the 
consuls Regulus and Manhus. (B, C. 256.) On the voyage they were met at 
Ecnomus by the Carthaginian fleet, and an action ensued, in which the Romans 
were victorious; sixty-four of the enemy's galleys being taken, and thirty destroyed. 
The Romans landed near the city of Clypea, which they took by storm. Soon 
after, Regulus defeated the Carthaginian army in a general engagement, and took 
the city of Tunis. 

The Carthaginians now sought for peace ; but the terms demanded by Regu- 
lus were so harsh, that they determined to continue the w^ar. Xanthippus, a 
renowned Spartan general, having come to their assistance, with a large force of 
Grecian mercenaries, was appointed commander-in-chief of their army. He fought 
a battle with the Romans, w^ho were now deserted by their former good fortune. 
The Roman army was completely beaten, and the greater part of the troops 
killed or taken prisoners : only about two thousand escaped to Clypea. Regulus 
was among the prisoners. After this splendid victory, Xanthippus returned to 
Sparta. The garrison at Clypea was taken off" by the Roman fleet, which defeated 
the Carthaginians on the voyage ; but three hundred and twenty of the ships, with 
all on board, were lost in a tempest, on their return. After this loss, the Romans 
relinquished, for a time, the contest for naval superiority. The result of a battle 
near Panormus, in Sicily, in w^hich Asdrubal, the Carthaginian general, was 
totally defeated, served to console the Romans for their misfortunes in Africa. 

Anxious to bring the war to a close, the Carthaginians sent Regulus with 
their ambassadors to Rome ; supposing that the desire of liberty would influence 
him to advise the Romans to make peace. The old general, however, encouraged 
his countrymen to continue the contest ; assuring them that the resources of Car- 
thage were nearly exhausted. He then, notwithstanding the entreaties of the 
senate, and the tears and prayers of his family, returned to Carthage to keep his 
parol.- It is said that this honourable conduct did not prevent his being put to 
death on his arrival in Carthage, with most cruel tortures, which would have been 
a mean revenge for disappointing the hopes of his country's enemies ; but there is 
reason to believe that he died a natural death, and that the tale of his murder 
was invented to palhate the cruelty with which his family afterwards treated their 
Carthaginian prisoners. 

The renewed hostilities commenced unfavourably for the Romans. Adher- 
bal gained a great naval victory over P. Claudius at Drepanum, and two Roman 
fleets suffered shipwreck off" the Sicilian coast, B. C. 249. The progress of their 
Vol. I. 40 




R3TURN OF R E & CT L tj 3 . 



arms upon the land was checked by Hamilcar Barca, the Carthaginian commander. 
These misfortimes, however, did not dispirit the Romans, who equipped a new 
fleet, superior to any they had yet possessed, which was placed under the com- 
mand of the consul Lutatius Catulus. The army in Sicily was also strongly rein- 
forced, and the nation seemed determined to wipe away the disgrace attending 
their late operations. The hostile fleets met near the iEgates, March 10, 241 
B. C The Roman vessels were clear, and free from all unnecessary burdens, 
while the Carthaginian galleys were ill manned and encumbered with baggage. 
The battle was soon decided in favour of Rome. The Carthaginians lost one 
hundred and twenty galleys, of which fifty were sunk. Hanno, their commander, 
fled with the shattered remnant of his fleet to the island of Hiera, and the Romans 
remained masters of the sea. Unable to continue the war, the Carthaginians 
accepted the terms of peace offered by the victors, which were, the evacuation of 



SECOND PUNIC WAR. 315 

Sicily and the islands between it and Italy ; the release of the Roman prisoners 
without ransom, and the payment in ten years of three thousand two hundred 
Euboic talents of silver, (about *3,000,000,) to defray the expenses of the war. 
(B.C. 241.) Sieily was now constituted a Roman province. This was anew 
system, and Sicily was the first country to which it w'as applied. In the Roman 
sense of the word, a province was a country in which a Roman general, during 
the period of his command, exercised over his soldiers, as well as over the inhabit- 
ants of the country, the same power as in times of war. The nations of Italy, 
like the allies of Lacedffimon, aided the sovereign state with their arms, and paid 
no tribute ; while the provinces were disarmed, like the allies of Athens, and 
served their sovereign with their money, and not with their men.* 

The Boii and Ligurii, two Gallic tribes, revolted against the authority of 
Rome, but were soon reduced to obedience ; when a more important contest arose 
wuth the Illyrians, whose piracies had become so frequent, that it was deemed 
necessary to send ambassadors to Teuta, their queen, to remonstrate against their 
illegal and vexatious acts. Teuta murdered the ambassadors, and the Romans 
declared war. The Illyrians were unsuccessful in every instance, and Teuta was 
obliged to sue for peace, which was granted on the condition of the payment of 
an annual tribute, and the surrender of a great part of her dominions. (B.C. 228.) 
The islands of Sardinia, Corsica, and Malta fell about this time into the power of 
the Romans. The Illyrians subsequently renewed the war ; but were a second 
time conquered with great loss. (B. C. 219.) ' The Insubrians, supported by the 
transalpine Gauls, gallantly contested the possession of their territory (Milan) with 
the Romans during the years 234 and 233 B. C, but they were overcome in the 
end, and their country was constituted a province. Meanwhile the Carthaginians, 
under the guidance of Hamilcar Barca, and others of his fiuiiily, were endeavour- 
ing to compensate for their losses in Sicily, by the conquest of Spain. Their suc- 
cessful operations in that country, and the wealth which they were rapidly acquir- 
ing from its productive mines, aroused the jealousy of the Romans, who watched 
for an opportunity to commence a war. This was not long wanting. Hamilcar 
was succeeded in his conamand by his son-in-law, Hasdrubal. After Hasdrubal 
had administered the affairs of Spain for nearly nine years, he was assassinated. 
Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar Barca, one of the greatest men of all antiquity, 
was at this time living in the camp, with a view to the completion of his military 
education ; and he was chosen to be the successor of Hasdrubal. 

Pursuing his father's policy, Hannibal laid siege to Saguntum, a Grecian 
colony on the river Iberus. (B.C. 219.) The Romans sent ambassadors to remon- 
strate with him against this act, but he treated them with contempt. This con- 
duct was commended by the Carthaginian senate, and the rivals immediately pre- 
pared for the second Punic war. Hannibal, having conquered Spain, marched 
towards Italy, and crossed the Pyrenees. The consul Scipio, being foiled in his 

* Arnold 



316 ROME. 

attempt to prevent Hannibal from crossing the Rhone, sailed for Italy with a part 
of his forces, to meet the Carthaginians on their descent from the Alps. They 
effected the passage of these mountains in the astonishingly short period of fifteen 
days. (B. C. 218.) After taking the city of Turin, they were met on the banks 
of the river Ticinus by Scipio. The Romans were vanquished, with great loss. 
Their Gallic mercenaries, taking advantage of this defeat, deserted their standard, 
and joined the army of Hannibal, whom they regarded as another Brennus. 
Scipio, having been joined by the forces of his colleague Sempronius, again took 
the field, but his plans w^ere defeated by the impetuosity of Sempronius, who 
forded the rapid river Trebia, then swollen by rain and snow, in the face of the 
enemy. Hannibal immediately attacked the Romans, who, already defeated by 
the chilling waters and the driving snow, were almost defenceless before the warm 
and fresh troops of Hannibal. Great numbers were slain, and the whole left wing 
retreated to Placentia. This victory secured to Hannibal the friendship of the 
Gauls in northern Italy. Flaminius, the successor of Sempronius, led another 
army against the invaders ; but he was defeated and slain, near the Lake Trasi- 
menus. (B. C. 217.) Only six thousand of his soldiers forced their way through 
the enemy.* 

Fabius Maximus was now appointed dictator. This general observed a new 
system of operations. He hung upon the flanks and rear of the enemy, harassed 
their march, and cut off their supplies. This cautious policy obtained him the 
appellation of Cunctator, or the Delayer. While these events were transpiring in 
Italy, the success of the Roman arms in Spain under the Scipios, prevented the 
Carthaginians from sending reinforcements to Hannibal, who was consequently 
obliged to depend upon his own resources. At the close of the year B. C. 216, 
Fabius resigned the dictatorship, and the command of the army devolved upon the 
consuls Paulus ^milius and Terentius Varro. The imprudence of Varro brought 
on a general action near Cannse, on the river Aufidus. Hannibal was completely 
victorious, and the Romans suffered a greater loss than they had met with since 
the famous defeat of Alia. By this victory Hannibal acquired a secure footing in 
southern Italy. 

The spirit of the Romans seemed to rise in proportion to their losses. The 
senate stood firm amid all their misfortunes. Fabius Cunctator was again called 
to the head of the army, and resumed the cautious policy, the departure from 
which had produced the late disasters. Hannibal took possession of Capua, and 
concluded an alHance with Philip of Macedon, but a Roman army under Lavinus 
gave Philip sufficient employment at home. Thus was presented the extraordi- 
nary spectacle of a nation almost overcome by a formidable enemy at home, yet 
carrying on a vigorous contest in three foreign countries. The tide of fortune 
turned in favour of the Romans in Sicily. The praetor Metellus captured the city 
of Syracuse, the ancient capital of the island. (B. C. 212.) Archimedes, the cele- 

* Nicbiilir'.s Lectiiros. 



SUCCESS OF SCI PIO. 319 

brated malhcraatician, by whose ingenuity tlic attacks of the Romans had been for 
a long time baffled, was slain in the assault. He was very intent on a demonstra- 
tion in geometry, and calmly drawing his lines, when a soldier entered the room, 
and clapped a sword to his throat. " Hold !" said Archimedes, " one moment, 
and my demonstration will be finished." But the soldier, equally regardless of 
his prayer and his demonstration, killed him instantly. Agrigentum, the last of 
the Carthagmian strongholds, fell two years afterwards, and the Roman power 
was extended OA^er the whole island.* 

The war in Italy continued with various success. The Carthaginians gene- 
rally were able to go from one end of Italy to the other unmolested, such was the 
terror inspired by the almost superhuman power of their leader. At length, Has- 
drubal, the brother of Hannibal, who commanded the Carthaginian forces in Spain, 
marched to his assistance. Having passed the Pyrenees and Alps without opposi- 
tion, he found himself intercepted by the consuls Livius and Nero. Ignorant of 
the country, he was attacked at a great disadvantage by the Romans near the 
river Metaurus, and defeated and slain, with most of his army. (B. C. 207.) The 
head of Hasdrubal was cut off and thrown into the camp of his brother, who thus 
received the first intimation of this disastrous defeat. 

Scipio, whose successes against the Carthaginians in Spain had gained hnn 
the affection and admiration of the people, was now chosen consul. The war 
with Philip of Macedon having just been brought to a close, (B.C. 204,) the army 
of Greece was added to the forces of Scipio. That general, while in Spain, had 
secretly concluded a treaty of alliance with Masinissa, King of Numidia. This 
prince had been an efficient ally of Carthage, but his friendship had been alienated 
by the faithless conduct of Hasdrubal Gisco, who had given his daughter Sopho- 
nisba in marriage to Syphax, the personal enemy of Masinissa, in violation of a 
promise to the latter. His friendship towards Rome had been strengthened by 
the conduct of the Carthaginians, who joined Syphax in stripping him of the 
greater part of his dominions. Scipio landed in Africa, B. C. 204. He com- 
menced treating with Syphax, whose army was encamped near that of the Car- 
thaginians. 

While the Numidian was thus amused, Scipio suddenly broke off the nego- 
tiations and fired his camp. The conflagration produced such a confusion, that 
the fugitives allowed themselves to be slaughtered like sheep by Masinissa. The 
Carthaginians saw the flames of the burning camp of their allies, and while some 
ran to aid in extinguishing them, the remainder, supposing the fire to be accidental, 
came out of their camp unarmed to witness it. Thus situated, they were attacked 
by Scipio and shared the fate of their Numidian allies. Syphax and Hasdrubal 
escaped with a few followers, the former to his dominions, the latter to Carthage. 
The allied armies suffered a loss of ninety thousand men by this stratagem of the 
young Roman leader. 

* llooko't? Roman Ilistury. 



320 ROME. 

Masinissa was soon after restored to his legitimate throne, and Scipio 
marched against Utica, which he besieged. A large army which was sent from 
Carthage against him was vanquished in a general engagement, and the fugitives 
pursued to the walls of Carthage. Tunis next submitted to the invaders, and 
Carthage itself was in danger of a siege. 

In this extremity the Carthaginian senate recalled Hannibal from the coimtry 
which, during fifteen years, he had ravaged with fire and sword from one extre- 
mity to the other, without having seen his numerous victories chequered by a 
single defeat. He landed at Leptis, and proceeded towards Carthage. Perceiv- 
ing the hopelessness of the contest, the old general advised his countrymen to make 
peace ; but the riotous and turbulent democracy raved and stormed against it, 
trusting that the gods would come to their assistance. In the decisive battle of 
Zama, the Carthaginians were completely defeated ; the greater part of their army 
was cut to pieces, and the remainder dispersed. 

Hannibal escaped with a small band to Adrumetura, and thence to Car- 
thage. (B.C. 201.) His pacific counsels now prevailed; and with the enemy 
almost at the gates, deputies were appointed to ask peace from the victorious Sci- 
pio. The terms of the treaty were dictated by the conqueror, who demanded 
that the Carthaginians should surrender all their fleet, except ten triremes, to the 
Romans ; give up all the Roman deserters, slaves, and prisoners of war ; surrender 
all their elephants ; recognise Masinissa as King of Numidia ; enter into no war 
without the permission of Rome ; pay a ransom of ten thousand talents of silver, 
and give up one hundred hostages for the performance of the treaty. These con- 
ditions were accepted by the Carthaginians, and the conqueror returned to Rome, 
where he was honoured with a magnificent triumph, and the surname of Africanus. 

The fall of Carthage gave additional impetus to the rising power of Rome, 
which was now extended over the greater part of Western Europe, and the influ- 
ence of which began to be felt in the East, where the power of the kingdoms 
formed from the fragments of Alexander's empire had been materially weakened 
by civil war. The first treaty made with Philip of Macedon had been disadvan- 
tageous to Rome, and the senate determined to seize an opportunity of recovering 
the foothold they had lost. The great victory of Cynoscephalce prostrated the 
ambitious hopes of Philip, and the ingratitude of the J^tolians soon after gave 
them a pretext for binding the fetters still more firmly upon Greece. 

Meanwhile the Boians, Insubrians, and other Gallic tribes, had supported 
the Carthaginian general, Hamilcar, in order to inflict some severe wound upon 
the Romans ; and an open war was commenced. The Insubrians submitted after a 
few campaigns, but the Boians continued the war for nine years, in the course of 
which Placentia and Cremona were entirely destroyed ; for the Boians knew that 
the Romans were bent upon their extermination. We see from Pliny, that they 
had entirely vanished from the face of the earth before Cato wrote.* 

* Nit'buhr's Lectures. 



BATTLK OF MAGNESIA. 321 

While the Romans were thus engaged, their great enemy was employed in 
the attempt to recruit the resources of Carthage, that she might be able to resist 
any renewed hostilities on the part of Rome. He saw but too plainly that Roman 
revenge would only be satiated when Carthage was a mass of ruins. He there- 
fore endeavoured to disappoint them of their prey ; but his prudent measures raised 
him enemies at home, who, unmindful of his patriotic services, accused him to the 
Romans of favouring the designs of Antiochus, and he was obliged to take refuge 
in Syiia. Antiochus was envious of the fame of the veteran, and refused to 
be guided by his experience, though he had resolved upon a war with Rome. 
Being invited by the iEtolians into Europe, he invaded Greece, B. C. 192. His 
ignorance and presumption were punished by his defeat at Thermopylae. The 
iEtolians were forced to seek peace, B. C. 190 ; but the conditions demanded by 
the Romans were so harsh that they determined to continue the war. Lucius Scipio 
and his brother Africanus met the army of Antiochus near the city of Magnesia, 
B. C. 190. The Syrians were entirely defeated ; and Antiochus was obliged to 
resign all his European possessions, with those in Asia north of Mount Taurus. He 
also paid a contribution of fifteen thousand Eubcean talents, (about $15,000,000,) 
and promised to surrender Hannibal to the Romans. The old hero fled for safety 
to Prusias, King of Bithynia, with whom he remained five years ; but, finding it 
impossible to escape from the power of his hated enemies, he committed suicide by 
taking poison, which he kept concealed on his person. On the return of the two 
Scipios from Asia to Rome, L. Scipio was accused of embezzling the public funds, 
and of taking bribes from Antiochus. He produced his account for the examina- 
tion of the senate ; but Africanus, indignant at this ungrateful return for their emi- 
nent public services, snatched and destroyed the papers which would have proved 
his own and his brother's innocence, and soon after retired to his country-seat at 
Laturnum, where he spent the remainder of his days. (B. C. 187.) His brother 
Lucius was tried and condemned to pay a fine ; and on his refusal to comply with 
his sentence, his property was confiscated. The poor citizens of Rome had seen 
men march into foreign countries as hungry soldiers, and had witnessed the exor- 
bitant riches displayed by them on their return — treasures extorted from con- 
quered nations. While they lived like simple peasants, they saw their former 
playmates, who had become soldiers, indulging in every kind of luxury, and they 
naturally wished for foreign wars as the means of obtaining them for themselves. 

The prudent exertions of Perseus to strengthen his kingdom and increase his 
means of defence, excited the hostility of the Romans, who seized some frivolous 
pretext for declaring war. (B. C. 171.) The fate of Perseus was decided by the 
defeat he suffered from the army of P. TEmilius, at Pydna. He surrendered to 
the Romans, and was brought to Rome to grace the triumph of his victorious 
adversary. The King of Illyricum having formed an alliance with Perseus, the 
country was invaded by the proetor Anicius, who conquered the whole kingdom in 
the short period of thirty days. The conquered kingdoms were reduced to the 
Vol. L 41 



322 ROME. 

condition of provinces, and Paulus iEmilius was honoured with the most magni- 
ficent triumph that had ever been given to a Roman general. 

Having thus firmly estabhshed their supremacy in Greece by the destruction 
of its most powerful sovereign, the Romans resolved to complete the ruin of the 
city of Carthage. The Carthaginians had defended themselves agamst the aggres- 
sions of the Numidians, and thus furnished their enemy with a pretext for war. 
They endeavoured to appease the Romans by the most abject submission. They 
banished all w^ho were obnoxious to their enemies, and gave their arms and muni- 
tions of war into the hands of the consuls : but when ordered by the conquerors to 
abandon their city to destruction, a spark of the fire of former days was kindled 
in their bosoms, and they resolved to die in defence of their homes and the graves 
of their ancestors. They strained every nerve to replace the arms which had been 
surrendered ; the whole male population was employed in forging armour and 
weapons ; and the long hair of the w^omen furnished strings for their bows and 
slings. Asdrubal, who had been banished at the instigation of the Romans, was 
recalled to the defence of his country, and every thing bespoke the determination 
of the doomed nation to sell their existence dearly. The war continued for tw^o 
years without any material advantage on either side. Scipio .-Emilianus was 
finally appointed commander of the Roman forces. He pressed the siege vigor- 
ously, and made himself master of the whole city. The garrison entrenched them- 
selves in the citadel and the temple of J^sculapius, where they prepared to defend 
themselves. On the seventh day, however, the citadel surrendered at discretion, 
and those in the temple of ^sculapius, setting fire to the building, perished in 
the flames. The city was sacked and burned ; the walls were razed to the 
ground ; and a dreadful curse was pronounced against him who should attempt to 
rebuild it. 

In the year that Carthage was destroyed the Achfeans were entirely subdued : 
Corinth was burned, and Thebes and Chalcis met the same fate. The beautiful 
statues, paintings, and other works of art, which were found in Corinth and other 
cities, were sent to Rome by the consul, who, according to Velleius Paterculus, 
was so ignorant of their real value, that he stipulated with the masters of the ves- 
sels, whom he engaged to transport them to Italy, that if they lost any of them, 
they should furnish others in their stead. 

The conquest of Spain next occupied the attention of the Romans. The 
Spaniards defended themselves with great bravery and obstinacy, and the war of 
the conquest was long and bloody. The most powerful Spanish tribes were the 
Celtiberians and Lusitanians, who defeated the Romans in many bloody battles ; 
so often that an expedition against them was more dreaded by the Roman soldiers 
than any other contest. The leader of the Lusitanians, B. C. 146, was a shepherd 
and robber, named Viriathus, a man alike formidable in victory and defeat. 
Unable to conquer him, the consul Csepio procured his assassination. (B. C. 140.) 
Deprived of their leader, and overwhelmed by superior forces, the Lusitanians 
gave up the contest. The Romans next directed their forces against the Numan- 



CONQUEST OF SPAIN, 



325 




SCIPIO HABANOniNG HIS TROOPS. 



tians. They were at first unsuccessful ; 
the proconsul Pompey, one of the ances- 
tors of Poinpey the Great, and Mancinus, 
completely failing to humble the enemy. 
The young Scipio was at length called 
to the consulship, and placed at the head 
of the armies in Spain. His consular 
term was occupied in restoring the disci- 
pline of his soldiers, the neglect of which 
by former commanders had caused the 
Aiilure of their enterprises. At the 
expiration of his year, he was appointed 
proconsul, and continued in his command. 
Having perfected his arrangements, he 
invested Numantia. The siege lasted for J* 
six months, when the Numantians, per- 
ceiving defence to be hopeless, and de- 
termined not to survive the loss of their 
city, killed their wives and children, set fire to the city, and perished by the flames 
or their own swords. (B. C. 133.) Spain thus became a Roman province, and 
was governed by two praetors appointed annually. 

About this time, also. Attains, King of Pergamus, died, leaving his treasures 
and dominions to the Roman republic, who immediately took possession of them. 

The long-continued wars in which Rome had been engaged had increased the 
power and influence of the aristocracy to an alarming extent. The administration 
of the government being vested, in time of war, entirely in the senate, that body 
had acquired the preponderating influence in the state, and the rights of the peo- 
ple had become almost extinct. The possession of the public lands contrary to 
the Licinian law, and the revenue derived from them, with the great number of 
dependents thus created, were another powerful means of adding to the influence 
of the nobles. The tribunes of the people opposed the attempts of the patricians 
at absolute sway, but rather as selfish partisans than as guardians of the interests 
of the people. 

In this state of things, Tiberius Gracchus, the son of a consul, and grandson 
of Scipio Africanus, grieved at the rapid progress of aristocratic influence, and 
the ruin of the liberties of the people, resolved, although himself a patrician, to 
check the tide of corruption. Having been elected tribune of the people, he 
attempted the revival of the Licinian law, under which no citizen could hold more 
than fine hundred jugera of land. This law had never been repealed, but the 
attention of the people having been occupied by war, it had been suflfered to 
become obsolete. Tiberius proposed several modifications less obnoxious to the 
nobles, but they bribed Marcus Octavius Cfficina, the colleague of Tiberius, to put 
his veto upon the law. Tiberius then procured the deposition of Octaviu'^!, and the 



326 



ROME. 



law was passed without modifications. A commission of three persons was ap- 
pointed to inquire into the abuses which had grown up in the management of the 
pubUc lands, and attend to the enforcement of the Licinian law. (B. C. 133.) 
Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, with Appius Claudius, father-in-law of Tiberius, 
constituted the commission. A new and more offensive clause was soon after 
added to the law, under which the commission were ordered to take cognisance of 
the lands that had been usurped from the republic. 




lOBUM RESTORED. 



About this time the treasures bequeathed to the repubhc by Attalus, King 
of Pergamus, arrived at Rome. Gracchus proposed and carried a law dividing 
these treasures among the poor citizens. The discontented nobles laid plans for 
the assassination of Gracchus, who sought a re-election to the office of tribune, 
which would render his person inviolable. He was accused by the senators of 
aspiring to royalty, and Scipio Nasica called upon the consul Mutius Scsevola to 
destroy him ; but the consul refused to arm his legions against the people. The 
contest respecting his eligibility to re-election having prevented the election of the 
first day of the comitia, Gracchus proceeded to the forum next morning, accom- 
panied by a number of his friends ; when Scipio Nasica, followed by the senators 
and their dependents armed, attacked them and slew Gracchus, with about three 
hundred of his partisans. The popular odium against Nasica on account of this 



D E A T H O F G R A C C H U S . 327 

murder was so great, that the senate was obliged to send him to Asia, upon the 
pretext of public business ; but in reality to screen him from the just indignation 
of the people. 

The slaves in Sicily, taking advantage of the distracted state of the people, 
revolted against their masters, under Eunus, one of their number. They main- 
tained a successful resistance for some time, when, Eunus having been betrayed to 
the Romans by the mercenaries of the consul, they gave up the contest. Disturb- 
ances also arose in the newly acquired province of Pergamus, where Aristonicus, 
a natural brother of the late king, attempted to expel the Romans and gain pos- 
session of the throne. He was finally overcome by M. Perpenna and M. Aquil- 
lius, and brought to Rome to grace a triumph. After the death of Tiberius Grac- 
chus, the commission for executing the agrarian law was composed of his brother 
Caius, Appius Claudius, and Licinius Crassus. Appius and Licinius dying, their 
places were filled by Papirius Carbo and Fulvius Flaccus. Caius Gracchus 
entered public life in the station of queestor in Sardinia. He discharged the duties 
of this office with fidelity, and on his return to Rome, B. C. 124, he was elected 
tribune of the people. He endeavoured to reduce the power of the nobility and 
ameliorate the condition of the poor. Among other reforms, he procured the 
enactment of a law transferring the judicial power from the senators to the equites 
or knights. This, with other measures of a similar character, determined the 
senate to get rid of so dangerous an opponent. Livius Drusus, one of the tribunes, 
was bribed to oppose the measures of Caius. He then, in the name of the senate, 
gave largesses and favours to the people, and succeeded in alienating their respect 
and affection from their former favourite. Gracchus was excluded from the tri- 
buneship at the third election, and Opimius, a violent aristocrat, was elected con- 
sul. The murder of an insolent lictor of Opimius, while the consul was engaged 
in sacrificing in front of the capitol, by some of the partisans of Gracchus and his 
colleague Fulvius, was the signal for an appeal to arms. The senate invested the 
consul with dictatorial powers. Gracchus and Fulvius, with their adherents, with- 
drew to Mount Aventine, where they were attacked by Opimius. Fulvius, with 
three thousand of their followers, was slain, and their bodies thrown into the 
Tiber. Gracchus fled across the Tiber to a sacred grove, where he ordered a 
faithful slave to put him to death. (B. C. 121.) 

There was a time when the name of the Gracchi was branded with infamy, 
and when they were looked upon as notorious only for their arbitrary proceedings, 
and as the ringleaders of a tyrannical faction ; but the patriotic brothers are now 
acknowledged as among the noblest of the Romans. There are certain family 
characters by which all the Gracchi are distinguished ; their mildness, and their 
unaffected and sincere love of the oppressed, a feature which we can trace through 
three generations : first in the Gracchus, who, in the second Punic war, liberated 
all the slaves in his army who had served Rome well ; then in Gracchus the cen- 
sor, whose clemency towards the Spaniards won the affections of the whole nation ; 
and lastly, in his two sons, who were the champions of Roman freedom. 



328 



ROME. 




To dwell on such characters as these is the more delightful, as they are sel- 
dom met with in history.* The Jugurthine war soon afforded the senate another 
opportunity to display their disregard for justice. Micipsa, King of Numidia, 
and son of Masinissa, left his kingdom to his sons Hiempsal and Adherbal, and 
his nephew, Jugurtha. The latter was bold, audacious, cunning, and adroit ; he 
had no respect for the sanctity of an oath, no honesty, and no humanity ; he was, 
in short, of a Satanic nature.f He seems, nevertheless, to have been able always 
to win the affections of those whose friendship he considered desirable. Hiempsal 
was proud, ferocious, and overbearing, and he insulted Jugurtha, though he was 
in no wise able to cope with him. Jugurtha murdered Hiempsal, and made an 
attempt on the life of Adherbal, who fled for safety to Rome. The senate was 
willing to investigate the matter, but Jugurtha purchased the commissioners, who 
decided every thing according to his wishes, and divided the kingdom in such a 
mamier that he obtained the most warlike and most productive portion.| Jugur- 



Niubulir. 



+ Hjid. 



I Ibid. 



THE SOCIAL WAR. 329 

Iha declared war against Adlierbal, conquered his dominions, made liim prisoner, 
and put him to death. The tribune Memmius now succeeded in passing a law 
appointing the pra:!tor Cassius to proceed to Numidia, and bring the usurper to 
Rome on the faith of the repubhc, in order that the conunissioners who had been 
bribed by Jugurtha should be convicted by his evidence. Being brought to Rome, 
and summoned before the assembly, he was interrogated by Memmius ; but the 
tribune Btebius, who had been bribed by the senators for the purpose, forbade him 
to answer the questions proposed to him. The attempt to bring the guilty to jus- 
tice being thus defeated, Jugurtha was released. Emboldened by this impunity, 
he procured the murder of his cousin Massiva, who was then in Rome, and escaped 
to Africa. The senate now declared war, and an army was sent against him 
under the consul Albinus. (B, C. 110.) Albinus and his brother after him, prose- 
cuted the war in a disgraceful manner. The people were aroused by the losses, 
and Opimius and other patricians were condenoned by them and tlieir partisans 
disgraced. The direction of the war was given to Quintus Metellus, a strenuous 
partisan of the aristocracy, but a skilful soldier and an upright statesman. He 
recovered all that had been lost by the cowardice and treachery of his prede- 
cessors, and drove Jugurtha from his kingdom. He was succeeded by his lieu- 
tenant, Caius Marius, an able commander, who elevated himself by his abilities 
and courage from the lowest rank in society to the highest station in the republic. 
Jugurtha, driven from Nm-nidia, had taken refuge with Bocchus, King of Mauri- 
tania. Marius defeated Bocchus, who surrendered Jugurtha to the Romans. He 
was brought to Rome with his two sons, and after being exhibited in chains at the 
triumph of Marius, he was thrown into a dungeon, where he died of starvation. 

While these events were passing, the Cimbri and the Teutones directed their 
march towards the Roman provinces. Consul after consul marched against 
them, but met with defeat and ruin. At length a terrible battle, in which 
eighty thousand Roman soldiers, with forty thousand camp attendants, were cut 
to pieces, excited the greatest consternation in Rome. Marius was again made 
consul, and the whole available force of the republic was placed under his com- 
mand. He trained his soldiers to endure extreme hardships, and marched against 
the Teutones, who w^ere entering Italy by the western Alps. The invaders were 
defeated in the first battle, with immense loss. He then imited his forces with 
those of Catullus and Sylla, who had retreated before the ferocious and barbarous 
multitude of Cimbrians. Marius gave them battle, and was again victorious. The 
invasion was completely crushed. (B.C. 101.) The total loss of the Teutones 
and Cim})ri, in these engagements, is stated by Livy to have amounted to 490,000 
men, of whom 150,000 were taken prisoners. A second servile war in Sicily was 
concluded about this time by the annihilation of the insurgents. A movement of 
the nobles against the rights of the Italian allies and citizens excited the hostility 
of the allies. A combination was formed against Rome, and an independent 
republic established. Thus commenced the contest known as the Social war, in 
which the Romans were generally beaten, and which ended B. C. 88, after a three 
Vol. I. 42 



ooO ROME. 

ye;u\s' war, })y the grant of the privileges of citizenship to the inhabitants of 
those cities who laid down their arms. This is frequently called the Marsic war, 
from the Marsi, a warlike nation who were foremost in the rebellions. 

The old disputes between the patrician and plebeian factions now recom- 
menced with more ferocity than ever, under the auspices of Sylla and Marius, 
The former was supported by the nobles, the latter by the popular party. 
The war with Mithridates, King of Pontus, afforded a cause of contention 
for the two rivals. This prince, having made himself master of Asia Minor, 
now menaced the possessions of Rome. The senate had ordered Sylla to 
conduct the war, but Marius prevailed upon Sulpicius, a tribune, to take the 
command from Sylla and confer it upon himself. Sylla, when informed of this 
measure, marched with six legions to Rome, entered the city without difficulty, 
and proceeded to the forum. Marius and his son, with Sulpicius, and nine 
others, fled and were outlawed ; and Sulpicius was overtaken and killed. Maiius 
fled to Ostia, and thence in great danger along the sea-coast. He was at length 
found in the marshes near Minturnoe, and thrown into prison. The inhabitants 
of Minturnse, not venturing to put him openly to death, sent a public slave to kill 
him. This man, a Cimbrian by birth, could not face the destroyer of his nation, 
though unarmed, and in the seventieth year of his age. The terrible countenance 
of Marius appalled him. He fled from the dungeon ; and the magistrates of Min- 
turnae supposing such an effect could only be produced by the will of the gods, 
set the aged general at liberty, and furnished him with a vessel to carry him to 
Africa. But he had no sooner landed at Carthage, than Sextilius, the governor 
of the province, sent word to him that unless he quitted Africa he should treat him 
as a public enemy. " Go and tell him," replied the wanderer," that you have seen 
the exile Marius sitting on the ruins of Carthage." In the following year, how- 
ever, he returned to Rome, where, during the absence of Sylla, the popidar party 
regained the ascendency. Cinna, a partisan of Marius, was elected consul, and 
summoned Sylla to appear before him to answer for his life. That general, how- 
ever, continued his march to the East, where his arms were completely successful. 
Mithridates was compelled to solicit peace, which was readily granted by Sylla, 
who desired to return to Rome, where his party had suffered the most cruel treat- 
ment from Marius, who, having raised an army of slaves and mercenaries, had 
gained possession of the city. The principal senators of the party of Sylla were 
murdered, and Marius seized the consulship, which he held until his death, which 
happened B. C. 86, in the seventy-first year of his age. Hearing of the approach 
of Sylla with a victorious army, B. C. 83, the consuls Cinna and Carbo made pre- 
parations to resist the invasion. The people, however, refused to obey the orders 
of these self-constituted consuls, and Sylla advanced upon Rome. Cinna fell in a 
tumult ; and Carbo, though aided by the younger Marius, was defeated and forced 
to take refuge in Prreneste. Sylla took possession of the city, and commenced an 
indiscriminate slaughter of all who had opposed him. No less than four thou- 
sand seven hundred of the principal citizens of Rome fell victims to his revengeful 



KPARTACIJS, TJIR (i L A I) I A T (1 R . 333 

spirit, wiiicli sceincd lo glory in Ihe sntferings of his opponents. Wliile these 
things were transpiring in the city, Pontus Telesinus, an able Samnite general, 
marched with forty thousand men, under pretence of reheving Marius. Sylla and 
Pompcy left Rome to oppose him, when, eluding their scouts, he made a forced 
march in the night, and arrived by the morning within two miles of Rome. He 
declared his intention of destroying the population without distinction of party. 
Sylla, having thrown himself into the city, made several sallies, but was driven 
back with loss ; and Rome was on the point of being taken, when Crassus, who 
had beaten the other wing of the invaders, attacked the Samnite army with his 
victorious troops, and defeated Telesinus with great loss. Antemnas, Prseneste and 
Norba fell into the hands of Sylla, and the inhabitants were either murdered by 
the conqueror or died by their own hands. 

Triumphant over his enemies, Sylla caused himself to be proclaimed perpetual 
dictator. (B. C. 82.) He exercised the supreme power for three years, abolishing 
and enacting laws according to his own wishes. To the great surprise of both 
friends and enemies, however, he suddenly abdicated the dictatorship, and retired to 
his villa at Puteoli, where he ended his days. The consul Lepidus attempted to re- 
enact the part of Sylla, and assume the reins of government ; but his designs were 
defeated, and himself declared a public enemy. The rebellion of the Marian fac- 
tion in Spain, where Sertorius had established an independent republic, (B. C. 76,) 
next drew the attention of the government. Pompey, then thirty years old, and in 
the prime of life, was sent to aid Metellus in subduing him ; but Sertorius, though 
troubled by the dissatisfied Spaniards, out-general led both his opponents. Per- 
jjenna and other officers formed a conspiracy against Sertorius, and murdered him 
at a repast. Perpenna then headed the insurgents, but Pompey defeated him in 
the first battle, and he was put to death. 

Five years after the death of Sylla, a Thracian, of the name of Spartacus, 
broke forth from a barrack of gladiators at Capua, with about seventy compa- 
nions. Taking refuge in the crater of Mount Vesuvius, he collected an army of 
slaves, gladiators, and robbers, and four consular armies were defeated by them in 
succession. His forces increased to one hundred and twenty thousand men, and 
he directed his march towards Rome. Approaching the capital, he was met by 
the praetor Crassus, who gave him battle. The action was desperate and bloody ; 
it terminated in the defeat of the insurgents and the death of Spartacus, with 
forty thousand of his followers. The gladiator must have been a brave man. 
When wounded in the leg, he fought upon his knees, covering himself with his 
buckler, and wielding his sword with his other hand ; and when he fell overpow- 
ered by superior numbers, he breathed his last upon a heap of Romans who had 
fallen beneath his sword. A portion of his army rallied, but was defeated by 
Pompey. 

Crassus and Pompey were elected consuls the next year, B. C. 70. They 
])0th endeavoured to gain the favour of the people ; Pompev by restoring the power 
of the tribunes, and Crassus by distributing corn and money among the lower 



334 



HOME 



classes. After the expiration ol' Ins consulship, Poinpey was appointed proconsul, 
for three years, with extraordinary powers, and sent to subdue the Cilician pirates. 
He executed this commission in a masterly manner. The pirates were driven from 
the ocean, and twenty thousand taken prisoners. Meanwhile the Mithridatic war 
had been recommenced by the indefatigable King of Pontus. He gained several 
advantages over the Romans, and the tribunes caused Pompey to be appointed 
commander of the Roman forces in Pontus and throughout Asia, and general-in- 
chief of the naval forces. Pompey immediately assumed the command, and gave 
a turn to the fortune of war. Mithridates finally put an end to his existence, 
B.C. 63. 

The conspiracy of Catiline now threatened the destruction of the republic. 
The author of this famous combination was a young nobleman of high rank, whose 
piivate character was stained with the most degrading vices, and who scrupled 
not to commit the most flagrant crimes. He laid a plot for the assassination of 
his rival, the consul Cicero, the destruction of the city, and his own elevation to 




OURIDS niSCLOSING CflTILINES cov^rin^CT. 



the supreme power. He was joined by a great number of ambitious and licentious 
nobles, who were devoiil alike of principle and patriotism. Among them was 
Q. Curius, who was so imprudent as to boast of the intentions of the conspirators 
to his mistress, Fulvia. The consequence wns, a disclosure to several persons of 
distinction. The rumour of a dreadful plot, ready to break out, occasioned the 



CONSIMRACY OF CATILINK. 



335 




a Jr. a A B embarking for Britain. 



appointment of Cicero to the consulship, whose prudence and vigilance finally 
averted the public danger. 

The associates of Catiline having formed a camp in Etruria, under the command 
of the centurion Manlius, the decree *' that the consuls should take care that the re- 
public received no detriment," was passed by the senate. Catiline was driven from 
the city into open rebellion by an attack made upon him by Cicero in the senate, 
and his associates were arrested. The guilty piirties were condemned to death, 
notwithstanding the opposition of Caesar, who was now j)ontifex maximus. Catiline 
attempted to lead his army into Gaul ; but was defeated and slain by a consular 
army under Petreius. 

Caesar had now risen to considerable influence in the state. As praetor he 
had gained some renown by the conquest of several hostile Spanish tribes. Return- 
ing to Rome, he aspired to the consulship, and formed a coalition with Pompey 
and Crassus, known as the First Triumvirate, to further his design. Caesar and 
Bibulus were elected consuls. Cicero having incurred the resentment of Clodius, 
a tribune of the people, was l)anished by the triumvirs. After remaining in exile 
one year, however, he was honourably recalled. The union of the triumvirs con- 
tinued for several years, each pursuing his course towards the common object of 
their ambition, the possession of the supreme power. The death of Julia, daugh- 
ter of Caesar, who was married to Pompey, weakened the friendship of the rivals, 
and the destruction of Crassus and his army in Parthia, put an end to the trium- 
virate. For eight years the proconsul Ca'sar had pursued a victorious career in 



336 



ROME 



Gaul. During this time he had gained several victories over the Germans across 
the Rhine; subdued all the barbarous and warlike tribes between the Pyrenees 
and the German Ocean ; and even passed over into Britain, and conquered all the 
southern part of the island. Pompey at first furnished his colleague with troops 
and supplies, and favoured his projects ; but the splendid success of Ceesar excited 
his jealousy, and caused a feeling of hostility which ended in open warfare. 

Hostilities were first commenced when Caesar made a demand for the con- 
sulship during his absence. This being resisted by the friends of Pompey, Caius 
Curio, one of the tribunes, and a man of great influence, proposed that both Caesar 
and Pompey should resign their commands and retire from public life. (B. C. 51.) 
A period of fruitless negotiations followed, which was finally ended by a command 
from the senate that Caesar should disband his army before a specified day, or be 
considered a public enemy. This decree, passed in spite of the opposition of the 
tribunes, was followed by another which threatened their safety. 

OMPEY was then appointed commander of the military 
forces, and the tribunes Antony, Cassius, and Curio fled 
in the night, disguised as slaves, to Caesar's head-quarters. 
This general was then at Ravenna, waiting to ascertain 
the final decision of the senate. When the news of the 
declaration of war on the part of the senate arrived, he 
broke up his camp, crossed the Rubicon, and subdued all 
Italy in sixty days. Pompey, with the consuls and others 
of his party, had left Rome for Brundusium, whence they 
sailed to Greece, hoping that Caesar, by violence in Italy, 
would work his own ruin. Caesar, however, boldly broke 
open the public treasury, which had been left in the city 
by Pompey, and took from it the funds necessary to raise 
a powerful army. Having thus created a sufficient force, 
he marched against the armies of Pompey in Spain, under 
Afranius and Petreius. These he compelled to lay down 
their arms ; many of the soldiers enlisted under his ban- 
ners ; the remainder were allowed to go free. Marseilles, which had been seized 
by Pompey's lieutenants, soon after surrendered to Trebonius. The persons of 
the inhabitants were respected ; but their arms, magazines, and treasures fell into 
the hands of the conqueror. 

On his return to Rome, Caesar was nominated dictator by the praetor M. 
iEmilius Lepidus. He held this office eleven days, when he resigned it, and was 
elected consul for the ensuing year, together with Servilius Isauricus, one of his 
best friends. 

Pompey meanwhile had raised an army in the East, and took the field against 
his rival. His forces w^ere composed of the flower of the Roman knights and the 
young patricians, aided by strong bodies of the troops of the European and Asiatic 
princes in alliance with Rome. Casar marched against this army, at the head of 




BATTLE OF PIIARSALIA. 



337 




JULIUS 0-SS AB. 



five legions ; ordering twelve legions which were quartered at Epirus under 
Mark Antony, to join him by sea. The naval superiority of Pompey rendered 
the execution of these orders almost impossible, and the troops at Brunnasium 
were in imminent danger of falling into the hands of the enemy. Unable 
to compete with Pompey in the field, Csesar ordered Antony to bring the 
troops over at every hazard. They succeeded in evading the enemy's fleet, and 
arrived safely at Nymphseum, when Csesar immediately offered Pompey battle. 
The combat was declined, and Csesar marched into Thessaly, where his army 
was well supplied with forage and provisions. Pompey, complying with the 
advice of his young counsellors, drew up his army on the plain of Pharsalia. 
Csesar was greatly inferior in point of numbers, but he gallantly led his veterans 
to the attack. The contest was fierce and sanguinary ; the cavalry of Pompey 
repulsed the charge of Caesar's infantry ; but the latter, bringing up his reserve of 
Vol. 1.-^43 



'^38 ROME. 

six cohorts, restored the action, and the GalUc and Ccnnan cavah-y were let loose 
upon the enemy, delighted at an opportunity of vengeance on the Romans. Pom- 
pey's army was completely routed, and his camp stormed and taken. Ahout 
twenty-four thousand of his troops laid down their arms and enlisted under the 
standard of Csesar. This memorable defeat completed his ruin. 

Pompey fled from the field of battle to Mitylene, where he embarked, with 
his wife Cornelia, to seek the protection of Ptolemy, the young King of Egypt. 
Arriving near Mount Casius, the Egyptian army was seen encamped upon the 
shore, and a boat put out to his vessel. Doubting their professions of friendship, 
Pompey nevertheless entered the boat to go on shore ; but before he came to the 
land, he was stabbed by the treacherous Egyptians, before the eyes of his wife 
and son. The latter, though pursued bv the Egyptian fleet, succeeded in 
making their escape. 

The head and ring of Pompey were brought to Ccesar, who had pursued him 
to the East ; but the conqueror, touched by the sad fete of him who had been his 
friend and his formidable rival, shed tears at the sight, and ordered the head to 
be honourably buried. Some of the friends and adherents of the fallen general 
refused to avail themselves of the conqueror's well known clemency, and continued 
the contest, Cneius and Sextus, the tw^o sons of Pompey, passed into Numidia, 
where they were protected by the king Juba, who had been an ally of their father. 
Meanwhile, Caesar having undertaken to arrange the succession of the Egyptian 
crown, which was disputed by Ptolemy and his sister Cleopatra, and showing a 
preference for the princess, was attacked by the partisans of the young king. 
Csesar, like Cortes in Mexico, was exposed to imminent danger, his small force 
being inadequate to the support of his position in the heart of a hostile country. 
By his bold and able measures, he succeeded in maintaining himself until reinforce- 
ments arrived, though in the course of the war, the palace was set on fire, and 
the library, which had been founded by Ptolemy Philadelphus, was burnt to ashes. 
Csesar placed Cleopatra and her younger brother on the throne, though the Egyp- 
tians had chosen her elder brother king. Fortunately for the quiet of the con- 
queror, that prince perished in the Nile. An account of the invasion of Pontus 
by Pharnaces drew Csesar from the side of Cleopatra, w^ho had ensnared him by 
her coquetry, to the head of his army. He marched through Syria into Pontus, 
where he met the enemy. On the very day of his arrival, and without allowing 
himself any rest, he attacked the invaders. The Asiatics were routed in a moment, 
and Csesar sent to Rome his famous letter to the senate, consisting of the three 
words, Veni, vidi, vici* 

Having thus subdued his enemies in the east, Csesar returned to Rome, w^hich 
he found in a state of confusion. He succeeded by his moderation and justice in 
restoring order ; and immediately made preparations to attack the sons of Pompey, 
who had raised a powerful army in Africa. Near Thapsus he defeated the Roman 

* Literally, / came— saw — conquered. 



B A T T L E O F M U N I) A . '-^^9 






\ \ i 
\ 



% 







i 

^ 



i^(Wf<] V ,4M^MgMit^ B 



CATO ABOUT TO KILL HIMSELF. 



general, and Jiiba, King of Numidia, who had acted in alliance with them. Juha 
and his general, Petreius, slew each other in a fit of distraction, and Scipio and 
Cato, the principal supporters of the cause of Pompey, also fell, the latter hy 
his own sword,* 

The sons of Pompey took refuge in Spain, and Caesar returned in triumph to 
Rome. His victory was celebrated by a triumphal procession, which lasted four 
days, and exceeded in splendour any thing that had ever been seen in Rome. 
Each soldier received twenty thousand sesterces. The senate united in paying the 
most servile adulation to the conqueror. He was appointed dictator for ten years, 
and censor for life. He availed himself of these demonstrations of his power and 
popularity, by applying them to works of public utility, and the enactment of wise 
and salutary laws. 

Tiie defeated sons of Pompey had organized a formidable force in Spain, 
whither Csesar now marched at the head of his army. He met the hostile force 
on the plains of Munda, B. C. 45. The soldiers of Pompey fought with a despe- 
rate valour, and Caesar's veterans began to give ground. In despair he leaped 
from his horse, and placing himself at the head of the fugitives, he called on them 
to sheathe their swords in his body, rather than suffer him to survive such a day. 
He thus arrested their flight, and finally turned the tide of battle. Cneius, the 
elder of Pompey's sons, having been wounded, was slain in the attempt to escape; 
his brother Sextus saved himself by flight. Triumphant over his enemies, Caesar 
occupied himself in enterprises of public importance, and the cultivation of the arts 

* Cato's suicide was marked with sinjrular deliberation. Ho passed tlic last few liours 
of his life in reading Plato on the innnortulity of the soul. 



340 ROME. 

of peace. He also formed the desitrn of subduing the Parthians, and extending 
the Roman power over Scythia. His friends declared that in order to execute 
this plan it was necessary that he should receive the title of king; as the Sibylline 
books declared that the Parthians should only be conquered by a king. The 
royal diadem had previously been offered to him by Mark Antony, upon a public 
occasion, but Caesar had then refused it. A meeting of the senate w^as appointed 
for the 15th of March, B. C. 44, for the purpose of carrying this design into effect. 
This occasion, which was to have conferred upon the dictator the royal title, 
was seized by his enemies to effect his destruction. 

The thoughtless want of courtesy shown by Cffisar towards the aristocracy, 
had produced a feeling of bitter hostility in the bosoms of many of its members; 
and a conspiracy had been formed, of which Cassius and Brutus were the principal 
movers, comprising many members of the senate. Csesar, though warned of his 
danger, boldly entered the senate house, and w^as surrounded by the conspirators, 
apparently anxious to greet him. Cimber, one of the leaders, approaching him 
to offer a petition, in apparent earnestness seized his robe and pulled it from his 
shoulders. This was the signal for the assassins, w^ho immediately rushed upon 
him. Casca gave the first stroke. Caesar fell, pierced with twenty-three wounds, 
at the base of the statue which he had caused to be erected to the memory of 
Pompey. The senators, astonished and terrified, fled to their houses ; and the 
conspirators took refuge in the capitol, which they garrisoned with gladiators. 
The senate was convened by Lepidus and Antony, to decide whether Caesar had 
been a usurper or a legal magistrate, and what should be the fate of his mur- 
derers. The senate approved of all Caesar's acts, and granted pardon to the con- 
spirators, thus hoping to conciliate both the friends and the enemies of the fallen 
dictator. Mark Antony, at the funeral of Caesar, so inflamed the passions of the 
people, by his eulogium of the character of the dictator, and his eloquent appeals 
to their sympathy, that they set fire to the houses of the conspirators with brands 
from the funeral pile, and obliged them to flee from the city. Divine honours 
were decreed to the memory of Caesar, and a monument was erected on the site 
of his funeral pile, dedicated to the " Father of his country." 

Antony now concentrated his exertions for the attainment of the supreme power. 
His plans, however, were disturbed by the arrival at Rome of Caesar's nephew and 
heir, Octavian or Octavianus Caesar, afterwards called Augustus. Octavian, who 
was at Apollonia, engaged in the study of Greek literature, returned to Rome, upon 
receiving the intelligence of Caesar's death, to claim the estate bequeathed to him by 
his uncle. At his arrival, he was treated with great coolness by Antony ; but he 
soon found himself at the head of a strong party, among the prominent members 
of which was the celebrated orator and statesman Cicero. Antony having per- 
suaded the people to grant him the province of Cisalpine Gaul, which the senate 
had given to Brutus, marched against the latter, who threw himself into the town of 
Mutina. Octavian offered his services to the senate to relieve Brutus. The se- 
nate accepted his offer, approved of his conduct and of that of Brutus, and declared 



SECOND TRIUMVIRATE 



341 




DBA.TH OF JULIUS O^SAB. 



Antony an enemy to his country. Octavian, aided by the consuls Hirtius and 
Pansa, marched against Antony, and succeeded in defeating him, although Hirtius 
was killed and Pansa mortally wounded. Having thus effected his object, which 
was to humble Antony, but not to destroy him, Octavian abandoned the cause of 
the senate. Antony having been joined by Lepidus, an interview took place 
between the rivals near Bononia, which resulted in the formation of the second tri- 
umvirate, Nov. 27, B. C. 43. By the terms of this agreement, the empire was to be 
divided between the triumvirs, each of whom agreed to give up to the vengeance 
of his colleagues those of his friends who were obnoxious to them. In the ruth- 
less proscription which followed, the streets of Rome were dyed with the blood 
of her noblest citizens, and the mansions of wealth and distinction were filled with 
the sound of lamentation. Among the victims of this proscription was the gifted 



342 



ROME. 



Cicero. This distinguished man was given uj) by Octavian to the ferocious ani- 
mosity of Mark Antony, whose dastardly sacrifice of his uncle was only surpassed 
by Lepidus, who demanded the proscription of his own brother. The triumvirs 
agreed that the empire should be apportioned among them for five years, in the fol- 
lowing manner: Octavian governed Africa and the Mediterranean, Antony Gaul, 
and Lepidus Spain. Having thus established their power, the triumvirs procured 
the passage of a law for the condemnation of the conspirators. Antony and Octa- 
vian marched against them, leaving Lepidus in command at Rome. Meanwhile 
Brutus and Cassius, the chiefs of the conspirators, had made themselves masters 
of Macedonia and all the countries east of the Adriatic, as far as the frontier 
of Egypt. On ihe approach of the triumvirs, the patriots prepared to defend 




PLAINS OF PHILIFPI. 



themselves. They drew up their army at Philippi, and gave Antony and Octa- 
vian battle. Brutus commanded the right wing, and was victorious ; but Cassius, 
who, with the left wing of the republicans, was opposed by Antony, was beaten 
and forced to retreat. Believing all to be lost, Cassius caused a faithful slave to 
put an end to his existence. Brutus reassembled the scattered forces, and would 
have maintained himself on the defensive, but his troops forced him to bring the 
matter to a decision. They fought bravely, but the triumvirs were victorious ; 
Brutus, with a few of his followers, escaped to the hills, where his servant refusing 
to perform the last duty towards him, he threw himself upon his own sword. 
(B. C. 42.) The majority of the proscribed who survived the battle of Philippi 



ANTONY AND (M-R()1'ATRA 



:{43 



put an vnd to thoir own lives, as they despaired of being pardoned, Antony 
remained in the east, while Octavian returned to Rome. The latter employed 
himself in strengthening his power and confirming his hold upon the affections of 
the people. Antony, dazzled by the luxuries and splendour of eastern hfe, 
neglected his interests for the pleasures of dissipation. Cleopatra, Queen of 
Egypt, having succoured the conspirators, Antony summoned her to appear before 
him to answer for her conduct. The Egyptian beauty fearlessly sailed in her 
barge up the river Cydnus to Tarsus, with a pomp which made her appear almost 




CLEOPATRA'S BABGl 



like the queen of fairies, and invited Antony to an entertainment. Here every 
thing was prepared with a splendour and magnificence which the Romans could 
not have produced with all their treasures. Antony fell completely into her net. 
She stayed for some time with him in Asia Minor, and he then accompanied her 
to Alexandria. The discontent created among the Roman peasantry by the set- 
tlement of the army of Octavian, which expelled many of them from their homes, 
and the insolence of the military settlers, added to the distress occasioned by the 
failure of the usual supply of corn from the Mediterranean, all conspired to pro- 
duce a civil war. Fulvia, the wife of Antony, jealous of Cleopatra, and consider- 
ing a quarrel with Octavian as the most certain means of recalling her husband to 
his duty, raised an army among the ejected peasantry, assisted by her hrother-in- 
law, the consul Lucius. Octavian, however, forced them to surrender (B. C. 41), 



344 



ROME. 







ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA. 



and extended a full pardon to their soldiers. Antony, hearing of the defeat of 
his brother, sailed from Alexandria to Tyre, and thence to Cyprus and Rhodes. 
Meeting Fulvia, he treated her with so much harshness, accusing her of exciting 
a quarrel with Octavian without cause, that she died of a broken heart. Leaving 
her upon her dying bed, he hastened to meet Octavian at Brundusium. A recon- 
ciliation took place between the triumvirs, and it was cemented by the marriage 
of Antony with Octavia, the sister of Octavian. A new division of the empire 
was made, by which Antony received the eastern and Octavian the western por- 
tion, while Africa was assigned to Lepidus ; and Sextus Pompey was allowed to 
retain those islands in the Mediterranean which were already in his power. The 
new arrangement, however, did not long subsist in peace. Antony and S. Pom- 
pey having quarrelled respecting the evacuation of the Peloponnesus, the latter 
resumed his piracies in the Mediterranean. The supply of corn being thus again 
stopped, Octavian declared war against S. Pompey. The war continued for seve- 
ral years, when, having been reduced to the last extremity by Agrippa, Sextus 
fled to Asia Minor, and implored the protection of Antony. While Antony 
deliberated upon the course he should pursue, S. Pompey was murdered by 




'^ ' IIHIilllPI 



DEATH O F A i\ 'I' () X V . 347 

Titius ill Plirygia. Lepidus was not long ai'terwards banished to CiiTa?um b}' 
Octavian. Octavian returned to Rome, where he was received by the senate and 
people with the most extravagant professions of attachment. He had now made 
himself master of nearly the whole empire of his uncle, and the eastern provinces 
were alone wanting to complete his power. Antony, meanwhile, undertook an 
expedition against the Parthians, which resulted in his total discomfiture, with the 
1 )ss of his baggage and nearly one-fourth of his army. On his return from this 
disastrous attempt, he gave himself up to the blandishments of Cleopatra, and 
neglected all the important matters which demanded his attention for the pleasures 
of luxury and debauchery. Octavia, hoping to withdraw^ him from these scenes 
of dissipation, wrote to him, announcing her intention to join him with troops and 
money. Antony, however, influenced by the entreaties of Cleopatra, refused to 
see her, and ordered her return home. Not satisfied wath this insult, he divorced 
her, and married Cleopatra, on whom he bestowed several of the Roman provinces 
in Asia. 

The insulting treatment of Octavia was the signal for an open rupture 
between the two rivals. Antony succeeded in assembling a powerful army, con- 
sisting of one hundred thousand foot and twelve thousand horse ; but his fleet was 
greatly inferior in numbers. After some time spent in inactivity, the war began by 
a naval action near the promontory of Actium, in the Gulf of Ambracia, September 
2, B. C. 31. The armies of the rival commanders w^re drawn up on the opposite 
sides of the gulf. The battle commenced with great fury, and continued for a 
long time with equal success ; w^hen Cleopatra, abandoning the contest, retreated 
with the Egyptian squadron of sixty sail. Antony, deserting his fleet and army, 
followed the queen in her disgraceful flight. Notwithstanding the defection of 
their leader, the fleet of Antony continued the contest until five in the evening, 
when they submitted to Octavian. His land forces held out seven days after 
Antony deserted them, still believing that he would return ; but when they found 
themselves abandoned by Canidius, who commanded them, they listened to the 
proposals of Octavian, and recognised him as imperator. 

Antony and Cleopatra fled to Egypt, where the queen made preparations for 
defence; She formed the design of transporting her fleet across the isthmus of 
Suez into the Arabian Sea, and even succeeded in carrying some of them over, 
but the Arabians having destroyed them, she determined to defend her kingdom. 
Octavian refused to listen to any terms of accommodation, and laid siege to Pelu- 
sium. This city, although strongly fortified, and capable of enduring a protracted 
siege, w^as surrendered by the governor without a struggle. Paretonium, another 
stronghold, fell into the hands of Cornelius Gallus, a lieutenant of Octavian, and 
the victor advanced upon Alexandria. Here Antony made a stand, but his pusil- 
lanimity had dispirited his former adherents, who went over to Octavian. He 
then resolved to die, and died a cowardly and miserable death. He wounded him- 
self mortally ; but some time elapsed before the loss of blood caused his death. He 
expired in the presence of Cleopatra, who had shut herself up in her palace witb 



348 



R O M 10 




PROMONTOSY OF ACTIUM. 



the most costly treasures of her kingdom. She attempted to influence the con- 
queror as she had done Csesar and Antony, when Octavian made her appear 
before him ; but when she found she would be spared only to adorn a triumph, 
and when all her requests to be kept in possession of the kingdom which Antony 
had given her were either rejected or not answered at all, then, after having tried 
various poisons, she opened her breast to an asp and thus put a period to her 
existence. Her kingdom became a Roman province, her immense treasures fell 
into the hands of Octavian. After spending the winter in adjusting the affairs of 
the East, Octavian returned to Rome, where he was honoured with a triumph 
which lasted three days. The senate decreed him the title of Augustus, and in- 
vested him with the supreme power. The people, weary of the tyranny of the 
aristocracy, rejoiced at their delivery from the anarchy under which they had so 
long groaned, and the power which the emperor had won by his arms, was con- 
firmed by the unanimous consent of all classes of the state. The empire of Rome 
at this period was the most extensive, wealthy, and powerful that the w^orld had 
ever seen, comprising possessions in almost every part of the known world, and 
containing nations of every variety of language, complexion, and habits. 




SECTION II. 



HE Emperor Augustus commenced his government by an 
appearance of going back in everything to the ancient 
forms. He restored to the comitia the right of electing 
those officers whose appointment had been transferred to 
Cffisar ; but it was always a matter of course that the can- 
didate whom he supported at the elections could not be 
rejected. Augustus reduced the number of senators, and 
gradually took from their body all its functions, except 
the odious privilege of being the supreme court of justice in 
crimes against the state. He divided the provinces of the 
empire between himself, the senate, and the people, taking care to reserve the 
lion's share for the supply of his coffers and the support of his army. The 




■ 



350 



ROME. 




PANTHEON. 



whole number of his troops has been estimated at four hundred and fifty thousand. 
Augustus placed the city of Rome, which had become little else than a den 
of robbers, under the government of a board of local oiagistrates, and established 
a body of police, under the name of vigiles, who were bound to assist in 
cases of fire, riots, and the like. He transferred the functions wdiich had for- 
merly belonged to the quECstorship, to a new office, the prsefectura serarii ; 
reduced the military establishment to a regular system, and trebled the pay for- 
merly given to his soldiers. Augustus boasted that he had found Rome a city of 
bricks, and left it a city of marble. He erected an enormous number of new build- 
ings, among which was the indestructible Mausoleum.* Though Augustus was 
unprincipled in his domestic relations, devoid of courage, dishonest, and cruel, his 
character is partially redeemed by the fidehty with which he served his friends, 
and the gratitude he manifested towards Agrippa and Maecenas. During the first 

* Niebuhr. 



AUGUSTUS. 



351 



eighteen years of the emperor's reign, Agrippa stood by his side remodelhng the 
constitution of the state, and showing the greatness of his conceptions by the 
mighty works which he caused to be erected. He made roads and built aque- 
ducts ; the Campus Martins, with all its beauties, was his work, and the Pan- 
theon still stands to accord the highest honour to its great founder. Agrippa died 
m the same year with Maecenas, who had shared with him the friendship of 
Augustus. Mfficenas was the patron and iViend of the greatest poets of his age, 
Virgil, Horace, and others. 

During an interval between the wars which maiked his reign, all the world was 
at peace, and Augustus closed the temple of Janus. This temple had only been 
closed twice since the foundation of the city, once in the time of Numa, and again 
after the first Punic war. He issued orders for a genei'al census or enrolment of 
his subjects. The execution of this decree in Judea brought Joseph and the. Virgin 
Mary to Bethlehem. Here occurred an event the most important in histot-y. 
The birth of Jesus Christ marks the characteristic distinction between the spirit 
of the ancient and modern world. With the diffusion of his religion commenced 
the spirit of humanity towards the suffering, and of courtesy in the conduct of 
war, as well as that earnest regard to a future immortality which pervades the 
whole body of modern life and literature. 




TIBKRTD3 IM GERMANY. 



During the reign of Augustus, the Roman empire was considerably extended. 
Drusus, Tiberias, and their successors in Germany, attempted gradually to reduce 
that country to a Roman province, but a craftily organized revolt of Arminius (Her- 



352 R O M !■: . 

mann), a younj]; Chcruscan, rcsciieil Germany from slavery and her language from 
annihilation. Quinctilius Varus was surrountled in a forest by the Germans, under 
Arminius, overpowered by superior numbers, and cut to pieces. Varus and his 
principal officers put an end to their lives in despair. The news of the disaster 
spread the greatest consternation throughout Rome. Tiberius was sent to the 
aid of Asprenas, who had maintained himself on the western bank of the Rhine. 
lie succeeded in checking the enemy ; but was called back to Rome, leaving his 
nephew Germanicus, the son of Drusus, to conduct the war. 

The defeat of Varus, added to other causes, rendered Augustus imhappy dur- 
ing the last years of his life. He was taken ill at Capua, and died at Nola, 
A. D. 14. He was buried at Rome, with the most extraordinary honours. 
At the time of his death, the Euphrates formed the eastern boundary of the 
empire. Syria, Egypt, Cyrene, Africa, Numidia, and probably many countries 
about the Niger, and all continental Europe west of the Rhine and the Danube, 
recognised the majesty of the Roman people. Even beyond the Rhine, Holland 
and a great part of the Frisians were under the dominion of the empire. 

Tiberius next ascended the throne, and soon after his succession, he caused 
his nephew Germanicus to be removed from the head of the victorious legions in 
Germany to the East, where he soon after died. (A. D. 19.) A numerous class of 
denouncers now arose, who made it their business to bring to trial any one whom 
the emperor disliked ; and the senate servilely became a condemning machine for 
the tyrant, w^ho himself maintained a sort of dignified neutrality. 

L. tEHus Sejanus acquired an ascendency over the mind of Tiberius, and long 
enjoyed his confidence. He persuaded the emperor to retire to the island of Capreaj 
to indulge his lusts, and then endeavoured to open a way for himself to the throne 
by crimes without number, among which was his cruel persecution of the family 
of Germanicus. The despotism he had introduced became still more dreadful by 
his downfall, in which not only his whole party, but every one that could be consi- 
dered as connected with it, became involved by the crafty emperor and his new 
favourite Macro. The picture of the atrocious despotism of Tiberius is rendered 
doubly disgusting by the horrid and unnatural lust which he joined to it in his 
old age. He was suffocated while sick, at the instigation of Caius Caesar, by his 
favourite Macro. (A. D. 37.) 

Caius Caesar was born A. D. 12, in the camp in Germany, where he received 
from the soldiers the surname of Caligula, from his being arrayed, when quite 
young, in a little pair of Call gee, a kind of boots used chiefly by the soldiers. The 
tyranny of Tiberius was forgotten in the enormities perpetrated by Caligula in 
the four years of his reign. The most charitable view that can be taken of his 
wickedness is that which asserts that he had lost his reason, either from the effects 
of a love-potion, or from the constant anxiety and fear for his life, in which he had 
lived from his childhood. He was slain by the patricians, who recognised Claudius, 
the brother of Germanicus, and Caligula's imcle, as emperor. (A. D. 41.) Clauilius 
was fond of science and literature, but deficient in judgment and reflection. Almost 



N E R O . 



3o3 




DEATH OF BRITANNICDS. 



imbecile from former neglect, he became the tool of his licentious wives and freed- 
men. Notwithstanding his profligacy and cowardice, he extended the Roman 
dominion in Britain, and among other works, constructed the finest of all the aque- 
ducts, the Aqua Claudia. He was poisoned, B. C. 54, by his wife, Agrippina, 
who had secured the succession to her son, Nero. On the death of Caligula, 
the new emperor issued from the palace accompanied by Burrus Afranius, a 
mjan of great probity and high raihtary reputation. He proceeded to the camp, 
and was saluted emperor by the soldiers.* Besides Burrus, Nero had a friend 
and adviser in the philosopher Seneca, an accomplished man of the world. Burrus 
acted from a desire to promote the public good, but Seneca may have been 
actuated by liis knowledge that he was hated by Agrippina, whose destruction he 
finally compassed.f While planning her assassination, he composed speeches full of 
clemency and justice, which the emperor delivered. Agrippina imprudently hast- 
ened the consummation of the schemes of her enemies by her own violence. 
Becoming offended at the emperor's conduct, she menaced him with taking Britan- 
nicus to the camp with her, and said that there, as the daughter of Germanicus, 
she would appeal to the soldiers against her unworthy son. Britannicus was high- 



* Keightley. 
Vol. I. 45 



t Niebuhr. 



354 ROME. 

spirited, and possessed of friends, and Nero was well acquainted with the energy 
of his mother. He became alarmed ; by inspiring him with fear she had pro- 
nounced the death of Britannicus, and broken the feeble barrier that retained the 
young tyrant within the bounds of crime. Nero, having resolved that his bro- 
ther should perish, committed his first murder with all the coolness of an accom- 
plished assassin. He invited the young Britannicus to a feast : the unfortunate 
prince had scarcely touched with his lips the fatal cup when the subtile poison, 
prepared by Locusta, chilled his senses. He fell back on the couch and expired. 
All present fixed their uncertain eyes on the emperor, seeking in his looks a rule 
for their conduct. Nero, without changing colour, observed, " This accident need 
not cause any inquietude ; it is but an attack of epilepsy ; the prince has been sub- 
ject to them from his youth." The victim was carried out, his funeral rites were 
performed in haste and without pomp, the body being painted white to conceal the 
change of colour effected by the poison. But the rain, falling from heaven in tor- 
rents, rendered the artifice useless and exposed the crime,* (A. D. 55.) 

Agrippina soon followed Germanicus, and both Burrus and Seneca afterwards 
fell victims to the thirst for blood which they had awakened in the mind of the 
emperor. In A. D, 64, a fire devastated the city of Rome for nine days, leaving but 
four of its fourteen divisions entire. Almost all the magnificent ancient monuments, 
works of art, and libraries w^ere destroyed. While the fire was raging, Nero 
ascended a tower in the gardens of Maecenas, where, charmed by the beauty of 
the flame, he sang to his lyre " The Taking of Ilium." This was one of the first 
symptoms of that insanity which marked the last years of Nero, and which after- 
wards displayed itself in his public theatrical performances. 

Nero threw the blame of the fire upon the Christians, who had become very 
numerous in the empire. He commenced a violent persecution of this new sect, 
in which thousands of all ages and both sexes perished. Some were burned, some 
crucified, others bound and thrown to wild beasts, and others wrapped in pitch 
and set on fire to serve as lamps in the garden of the tyrant. The city was 
rebuilt in a more substantial and convenient manner. A magnificent and spacious 
edifice was raised upon the ruins of the imperial palace, for the accommodation of 
the royal family, called, from the quantity of the precious metals with which it 
was adorned, Nero's golden palace. 

During the reign of Nero, the poor natives of Britain revolted under their 
great queen Boadicea. They were finally compelled to submit by Suetonius 
Paulinus, and the greater part of the island was reduced to a Roman province. 
The Parthian king Tiridates was obliged to hold his kingdom as a fief of the 
Roman empire by Corbulo, who was rewarded for his fidelity and his victories 
with death. After the atrocities of the emperor had wearied the Roman world 
for ten years, C. Julius Vindex raised an insurrection in Gaul, which was followed 
by that of Servius Sulpicius Galba in Spain. Galba was proclaimed emperor by 

* Segur's Histoire Universelle. 



G A L B A - V K S I> A S I A N . 



;jo& 




OOLOSSE HM. 



the legions, and acknowledged by the senate. Nero, deserted by all, fled to the 
house of one of his freedmen, and put an end to his existence. (A. D. 68.) 

Galba reigned but seven months ; his niggardly economy having procured for 
him the resentment of the praetorians, who murdered him and placed Otho on the 
throne. Three months after the death of Galba, Otho slew himself, having lost a 
battle with VitelUus, the revolted commander of the troops in Germany. 

Vitellius occupied the throne just long enough to become celebrated through- 
out the world for his gluttony ; and he was defeated and slain by the generals 
of Vespasian, who had been proclaimed the successor of Otho by his troops in 
the East. Vespasian reigned upwards of nine years, and his government was 
well suited to the unhappy condition of the state, which was almost ruined by 



356 ROME. 

profusion, civil war, and successive revolutions. Besides the war in Judea, a 
revolt, headed by Civilis, gave employment to the armies of Rome, in Gaul, 
while Agricola introduced Roman manners and customs into Britain. Vespasian 
died at the age of 70, A.D. 79, leaving the throne to his son Titus, who was 
called by his subjects " the love and delight of human kind." 

Though Vespasian had been economical, he had spared no money in raising 
great and costly works of architecture. He had restored Rome from the effects 
of the great fire of Nero, and had built the Colosseum, the most gigantic edifice 
of ancient Rome. The honour of dedicating this building was reserved for Titus. 
The short reign of that prince was remarkable for its public calamities : fire con- 
sumed a great part of the city ; a pestilence thinned the population ; and an eruption 
of Mount Vesuvius caused the ruin of Herculaneum and Pompeii, A.D. 79. 

Domitian succeeded his brother Titus, and became the most complete despot 
that ever swayed the Roman sceptre. He was a bad son and a bad brother ; he 
not only contemplated the murder of his father, but continually sought occasions 
for conspiring against his brother, who never attempted to revenge himself, but 
treated him with confidence. His wars were unsuccessful, and the nation had the 
more cause to rejoice at his death, because it placed upon the throne the first ol 
the five good emperors. M. Cocceius Nerva was a senator of Cretan extraction, 
who was chosen emperor by the senate, and who endeavoured to reform the abuses 
of the state. (A. D. 96.) He adopted M. Ulpius Trajan as his successor, and died 
A. D. 98, two years after the murder of Domitian. Trajan was a Spaniard by 
birth, and the first foreigner who governed the Roman empire. He was equally 
great as a general, a ruler, and a man, though he possessed a thirst for conquest, 
and a hatred of the Christians. He died in Cilicia, A.D. 117. His ashes were 
conveyed to Rome, and deposited under the celebrated column of Trajan. 

Hadrian, who founded the Mausoleum, next occupied the palace of the Caesars. 
He was warlike, and fond of literature and the fine arts. Under his auspices Roman 
jurisprudence first developed itself as a science. His reign, which was a happy 
one for the empire, was followed (A. D. 138) by those of the Antonines, the first 
of whom, surnamed the Pious, is regarded by Heeren as the most noble character 
that ever sat upon a throne.* Of the other, known as the Philosopher, Niebuhr 
remarks, " if there is any thing sublime in human character, it is his."t War 
troubled their subjects, but the dominion of Rome was not materially lessened. 
The second of the Antonines died on the frontier, fighting against the northern 
nations who exhibited the first symptoms of the great migration of nations now 
beginning.J Commodus, the vulgar, dissipated, and unworthy son of the late 
emperor, succeeded to the throne, A. D. 189. He lost his Hfe in consequence of 
the discovery by his mistress of a plot which he had formed for her destruction. 

P. Helvius Pertinax was the next emperor. (A . D. 193.) He was assassinated 
after a short reign of eighty-six days. The empire being put up at auction, was 
knocked down to Didius Salvius Julianus, a senator, who bid 25,000 sesterces to each 

* Heeren's Manual of History. + Niebuhr's Lectures. | Heeren. 



SRPTIMIUS SEVERUS. 



357 




praetorian. But Clodius Albinus, Pescennius Niger, and Septimiiis Severus were 
each proclaimed emperor by their respective troops in Germany, the East, and 
Pannonia. Didius was killed by order of the senate. When Severus drew nigh 
to Rome, he ordered the praetorians to leave their arms in the camp, and come to 
meet him, dressed as they were wont when attending the emperors on solemn 
occasions. They obeyed, and Severus received them in the plain before his camp, 
and addressed them from a tribunal, reproaching them with the murder of Pertinax 
and the sale of the empire. He would spare their lives, he said, but he would 
leave them nothing save their tunics ; and death should be the fate of any of them 
who ever came within a hundred miles of the capital. While he was speaking, 
his soldiers had imperceptibly surrounded them ; resistance was vain, and they 
quietly yielded up their swords and their rich habiliments, and mournfully retired. 



ROME 




SEVERtJS DISARMING THE PE^TORIANS. 



A detachment had meantime taken possession of their camp to obviate the effects 
of their despair. Severus restored the praetorian guards on a new model ; he 
raised the number to four times what it originally was, and threw it open to all, 
selecting the ablest and most faithful soldiers from the legions for the higher pay 
and more easy life of the guardsmen. Niger and Albinus were both slain in the 
contest for the purple, and Severus reigned alone. He extended the dominions 
of the empire, and died at York, in Britain, A.D. 211. He left to his sons the 
maxim, " to enrich the soldiers, and despise all others." His sons Caracalla and 
Geta quarrelled about the division of the empire, until the latter was slain by 
Caracalla in the arms of his mother. The victor, though in other respects like 
Caligula, excelled him in oppressing his subjects. The former emperors exercised 



CARACALLA — DIOCLETIAN. 359 

their cruelty chiefly in Rome and Italy, but Caracalla traversed the provinces, 
everywhere making his presence the signal for scenes of violence and bloodshed. 

M. Opelius Macrinus, the murderer of Caracalla, now held the sceptre until he 
lost his life in a contest with Bassianus Heliogabalus, a priest of the sun, and a pre- 
tended son of Caracalla. (A. D. 218.) Bassianus brought the worship of his god Ela- 
gabalus to Rome, and engaged openly in such brutal and infamous debaucheries, that 
his name is branded in history above all others.* He was slain by the praetorians, 
at the early age of fourteen years, four years after his accession. His cousin, 
Alexander Severus, succeeded him, and proved one of the best princes in an age 
and upon a throne where virtues were more dangerous than vices. Durino- his 
reign, Alexander Babigan, who claimed to be a descendant of Artaxerxes Mnemon, 
raised a revolt in Parthia, slew the king Artabanus, and established a new 
kingdom. The dynasty which he founded is named the Sassanian, from Sassan, 
the father of Ardisher. Severus, after making unsuccessful war against the new 
Persian monarch, was slain in Gaul by Maximinus or Maximin, a Thracian adven- 
turer who commanded a legion. He seized the crown, but was slain by his troops, 
A. D. 237. The senate chose Pupienus and Balbinus co-emperors, and they made the 
young Gordian Caesar. They were slain by the soldiers, and Gordian mounted the 
throne. At the end of six years Gordian was assassinated by Philip, the Arabian 
who was followed in quick succession by Decius, Gallus, iEmilianus, and Valerian. 
After Valerian came Gallienus, A. D. 260, who saw all his provincial lieutenants 
revolt and make themselves emperors and their sons Caisars. This has been impro- 
perly called the time of the Thirty Tyrants. While they oppressed the people, 
Rome was beaten by Persians in the East, and Germans in the West. Gallie- 
nus was followed by Claudius. Quintillus, the brother of Claudius, was succeeded 
by Aurelian, who reigned five years. He defeated the Goths and the Allemanni, 
and took and destroyed Palmyra. Zenobia, the Queen of Palmyra, had extended 
her dominions until they included Syria, Egypt, and a part of Asia Minor .f These 
countries, with Gaul, Britain, and Spain, were again forced under the Roman yoke. 
Aurelian was murdered by his secretary. The senate chose Tacitus to succeed 
him, but that senator was murdered by the array, six months afterwards. His 
brother, Florianus, met with a similar fate, and Aurelius Probus received the purple. 
Probus enjoyed a happy and warlike reign of six years. He was first slain and after- 
wards lamented by the legions. (A.D. 282.) A flash of lightning finished the course 
of M. Aurelius Carus, the next emperor. His son Numerianus was murdered by his 
own father-in-law, Arrius Aper. His brother Carinus was assassinated in Upper 
Moesia, and C. Valerius Diocletian ascended the throne. (A.D. 286.) Since the days 
of Commodus, the empire had declined, partly in consequence of the high pitch to 
which the luxurious splendour and profligate effeminacy of public and private life 
had been carried, and partly because of the neglect of the internal administration 
during the quick succession of emperors, even the best of whom were constantly 
employed in protecting the frontiers, or in defending themselves against usurpers. 

* Niebuhr. t Gibbon. 



360 ROME. 

Yet during this general decay, the gradual spread of the Christian religion was 
working a reform of an altogether different nature. Notwithstanding the frequent 
persecutions, it had opened itself a way in every province ; it had made converts 
in every rank of society, and it was now about to become the predominant form of 
worship. The overthrow of paganism was necessarily attended with violent con- 
vulsions, yet its loss was nothing to be compared with the support which the 
throne afterwards found in the hierarchy. The framework of that hierarchy was 
already in a great measure constructed among its professors. 

Diocletian associated in his government an old companion in arms, M. Vale- 
rius Maximianus Herculius. The better to make head against the barbarians, the 
two emperors chose two Caesars, Galerius and Constantius, both distinguished 
generals. By this arrangement, the overthrow of the empire was postponed, and 
its boundaries extended to the Tigris. Diocletian compelled Herculius to unite 
with him in a joint abdication of the throne, and the two Caesars were proclaimed 
emperors. (B.C. 305.) Flavins Severus and Galerius Maximian succeeded them as 
Cffisars. Constantius died soon after at York, leaving his dominions to his son Con- 
stantine, who was immediately proclaimed emperor by the legions, although Galerius 
would only acknowledge him as Caesar. The Roman world soon after had six 
Augusti and no Caesars. Besides Constantine, Galerius Maximian, his son Max- 
entius, who had succeeded Severus by the will of the soldiers, Licinius, whom the 
emperor had chosen to succeed Severus, and Maximinus Doza, who possessed the 
East, all exercised sovereign power. (A.D. 309.) 

Hostilities first broke out between Maximian and his son Maxentius, who 
demanded that his father should retire to a private station. Maximian went to 
Constantine in Gaul, but enmity arose between the rivals, and Maximian was put 
to death. Galerius soon after died, and a war broke out between Maxentius and 
Constantine, who was invited by the people of Italy to free them from the bur- 
dens imposetl upon them by their tyrannical ruler. This war was closed by a 
bloody battle fought at a distance of three miles from the CoUine gate. The 
whole army of Maxentius was routed, and he himself perished in the Tiber. His 
body was carried at the head of the triumphal procession which led the victor into 
Rome. The triumphal arch erected on this occasion affords a melancholy proof 
of the decline of arts : no sculptor could be found in the capitol capable of adorning 
it, and the arch of Trajan was stripped of its ornaments for that purpose.* 

In the year 324 A. D., the whole of the eastern provinces were added to the 
dominion of Constantine by the defeat and death of Licinius. That general had 
previously vanquished and slain the emperor Maximin, so that Constantine was 
the only survivor, and possessed the sole power. He held it undisturbed until his 
death, A. D. 337. Alarmed at the license of the troops and the ambition of their 
leaders, he separated the military from the civil power, disbanded the praetorian 
guards, and dispersed over the provinces those armies that showed any preference 

* Gibbon. 



CONSTANTINOPLE FOUNDED. 363 

for the frontiers. But, whilst desirous of preventing rebellion, his policy, necessa- 
rily suspicious, opened to the barbarians an entrance into the empire ; and the 
removal of the imperial residence from Rome to Byzantium, prepared the division 
of the Roman world into two separate monarchies. Byzantium, henceforth Con- 
stantinople, was made the seat of his empire, partly because of the necessity for 
protecting the frontiers against the Persians and the Goths, and partly because of 
the emperor's religion, which could not abide pagan Rome. He had publicly em- 
braced the Christian faith, and when he annihilated military despotism, he esta- 
blished in its stead, in great measure, the despotism of the court and the power of 
the hierarchy. The promulgation of the Christian religion was enforced as a duty 
on all its professors, and accelerated by the endeavours of the court. Constantine 
forbade sacrifices and shut up the temples, and the violent zeal of his successors 
unfortunately soon turned them into ruins. The Christian religion having become 
the religion of the empire, rapidly acquired strength ; its professors became united 
into a great political party ; and the hierarchy, originally a simple institution for 
the government of the church, grew rapidly into a sovereign power, sufficiently 
strong to survive the wreck of the empire, and marshal half the world under the 
banner of the cross in the wars for the recovery of Jerusalem. 



We here close our volume of ancient history, deeming the removal of the 
imperial court from Rome to Constantinople, and the adoption of the Chris- 
tian religion by the sovereign, events which indicate the commencement of a 
new era, and foreshadow the peculiar features of the middle-age history. 
Henceforward we are to recognise a new power in the organized Christian 
church, which causes itself to be felt in every national movement. Coimtless 
armies are to be assembled and marched from Europe to Asia at the bidding 
of a single priest, and all the crowned heads of Christendom are to bow with 
reverence before the authority of the Papal sovereign. Instead of the fluc- 
tuations between democracy and despotism w^hich mark the ancient history of 
Greece and Rome, the period before us will witness the struggles between 
monarchy and feudal aristocracy, and the gradual developement of the freedom 
and intelligence of the common people, until their representatives are recog- 
nised as a legislative powder in the state. 

Not only the institutions with which history is hereafter to deal, but the 
very nations are changed. Ancient civiUzation having passed away under the 
sword and firebrand of the barbarian, a new civilization, of which Christianity 
and feudalism are the chief elements, springs up; and the terrible conquerors 
of the ancient world having spread themselves over what w'as once the Roman 
empire, become in their turn, under the auspices of religion, the conservators 
of science and art, and the administrators of enlightened policy. The middle 
ages, though stigmatized as the dark ages, were nevertheless marked by cease- 
less progress in the literature and arts which advance and embellish society. 



364 



R () M E . 



The knights of chivah-y laid the foundations of modern refinement, and the 
poets and architects of the middle ages have left monuments of their respec- 
tive arts, which modern imitation has vainly attempted to rival. 

Ancient Rome, according to Guizot, contributed two elements to modern 
civilization : ^^ first, the system of municipal corporations, its habits, its regu- 
lations, its principle of liberty — a general civil legislation, common to all ; 
secondly, the idea of absolute power; — the principle of order and the principle 
of servitude." It was reserved for the barbarians, who, at the period we 
have now reached, were rapidly overrunning the empire, to contribute other 
elements to modern civiUzation in their lofty spirit of individual independence, 
their feudalism, and chivalry. The Christian church lent its aid to the same 
result, by its moral influence, and the separation of temporal and spiritual 
power. 




BtrlNS OF THE rORUI 




CHAPTER XIII. 



ANCIENT LITERATURE 




UR notice of ancient liteiature must necessarily be brief. We 
shall only mention the most distinguished writers, referring 
the reader to other works for the details of the subject. The 
monuments of Egypt evince such an advancement in art and 
science, as irresistibly leads us to the conclusion that they 
were in possession of a rich and extensive literature, which 
has utterly perished. How far the Greeks were indebted to them it is difficult to 
determine ; but it is easy to perceive that their dependence upon this support was by 
no means so great as to detract in any measure from the merit of their own litera- 
ture, the most original, inventive, brilliant, and influential which has ever existed. 
In point of antiquity, the Oriental and Hebrew literatures take precedence of 
the Greek, and traces of famiharity with these earlier writings may be found in 
the Grecian poetry and philosophy; still, Greece has the merit of originating all that 
is most important and influential in her own literature. Schlegel considers the 
Greeks peculiar in this respect. There appears, however, to be no reason for 
denying the same praise to the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Hindoos, and the 
Hebrews. The literature of the Greeks and the Hebrews undoubtedly forms the 
basis of that of modern Europe, since, with the single exception of her jurispru- 

(365) 



366 



ANCIENT LITERATURE 



dence, Rome borrowed the whole of her hterature from Greece ; and modern Hte- 
rature is fomided upon the Greek and Roman classics and the Sacred Scriptures. 

Schlegel considers the proper epoch of Grecian literature to commence with 
Solon, under whose direction, and that of Pisistratus, the poems attributed to 
Homer were collected into a volume, and the sublime strains of the Iliad became 
the instrument for awakening the spirit of martial patriotism which proved the 
salvation of Greece, and indeed of Europe, from Oriental barbarism, in the Persian 
war. The Iliad and Odyssey were composed within a century of the age of 
Solon. " The whole happy period of the political history of Greece," says Schle- 
gel, " as well as all the glories of her literature, occupy no greater space than 
the three hundred years which intervened between Solon and Alexander." Dur- 
ing this period appeared Pindar, whose w^orks are all that remain of the Doric 
hterature ; ^schylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Menander, and Aristophanes, who 
created and perfected the Grecian drama ; Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xeno- 
phon, who furnished all subsequent writers with models of history ; Pericles, 
Demosthenes, and iEschines, the great masters of eloquence ; and Plato and 
Aristotle, philosophers whose systems have never ceased to exert their influence 
even to the present day. These were the great original writers of Greece, who 
created its literature, and whom other Grecian as well as Roman waiters imitated. 
The authors who flourished at the court of the Ptolemies, more learned and prac- 
tical, afford but a faint reflection of the briUiancy of the early masters. It is true 
that Theocritus invented pastoral poetry, and thus furnished a model for the 
eclogues of Virgil ; and Apollonius and Callimachus have preserved important re- 
mains of mythology in works of second-rate poetical merit, while Euclid has 
advanced mathematical science and furnished a model of severe and accurate 
method which has never been surpassed, and Hipparchus, the founder of Grecian 
astronomy, and the greatest light of that science before Newton's time, substituted 
accurate observation for the idle theories of his predecessors. Longinus, too, dis- 
tinguished himself as a critic. But for great inventive authors, we look in vain 
among the learned and courtly writers and librarians of Alexandria. With her 
existence as an independent nation, the brilliant inventive genius of Greece had 
passed away. 

It is a favourite theory of modern writers, from which we see no reason for 
dissenting, that the earliest literary eflforts of every nation consist in popular bal- 
lads and heroic songs, the natural expression of patriotic feeling. Such was the 
original form of the Homeric poems, as well as of the earliest literary remains of 
every nation, from the Scandinavians of North- w^estern Europe to the Hindoos of 
Southern Asia. Rome, in common with other nations, had her precious treasure of 
early ballads ; but, dazzled by the superior brilliancy and martial spirit of the 
Homeric poems, first revealed to her in the translation of Livius Andronicus, she 
suffered her early poetry to perish, and became in literature the docile pupil of the 
nation whom she had conquered by her superiority in military science and poli- 
tical intrigue. Hence it happens that in all the splendid productions of Roman 



ANCIENT LITKRATURH. 367 

genius which have been preserved for the athniration and imitation of the modern 
nations, we have no difficulty in recognising the Uneaments of their Grecian 

models. 

Roman literature flourished only for a short time — from Cicero till the death 
of Trajan. Cicero himself not only acquired the most splendid fame in eloquence, 
but appears as a teacher in his rhetorical and philosophical works, and in general 
had a most important part in founding Roman prose literature. In this he was 
greatly assisted by Csesar, whose Commentaries are admired for their spirit, sim- 
plicity, and judicious style, and by the learned Varro, whose grammatical writings 
promoted a scientific study of the language, and gave it a settled form. Among 
the Roman historians, besides Csesar, we have fine models in Sallust, remarkable 
for accuracy of narrative, strong delineation of character, richness of thought, and 
depth of observation ; Livy, distinguished by his full, flowing style, and skill in 
narration; Cornelius Nepos, chiefly valuable for purity of style ; and Tacitus, who 
elevated himself above a degenerate age by his truly Roman spirit, his depth of 
thought and power of expression, which has been often imitated, but seldom with 
success. In philosophy, the best Roman writer is Cicero. Annseus Seneca wrote, 
besides the tragedies which are doubtfully attributed to him, twelve philosophical 
treatises, which, amidst a tissue of artificial subtleties and glittering antitheses, 
have many excellent thoughts finely expressed. Lucretius taught Epicurian- 
ism in his poem on the Nature of Things. In epistolary writing, Cicero again 
stands first. His letters, addressed to the greatest men of his age, on pass- 
ing events, are written with purity, elegance, and simplicity. The letters of 
Pliny the younger are written with taste and elegance, but are too artificial and 
too evidently de'signed for publication. In eloquence, Cicero still maintains his 
pre-eminence. His only considerable rival was Hortensius, whose orations are lost. 
Quintilian was rather a rhetorician and critic than an orator. His Institutions 
form the best ancient treatise on rhetoric and composition, except that of Aristotle. 
In poetry the Romans were less successful than in prose. Their earliest epic 
poet was Ennius, the founder of the existing Roman poetry, who was greatly 
admired by Cicero and Virgil. He first introduced the Greek hexameters, and 
wrote the Roman annals in eighteen books. Contemporary with him was Plautus, 
whose low comedies are admired for their humour and wit. Next follow Cecilius 
and Terence, who, in common with Plautus, took what is called the new comedy 
of the Greeks, as their model. Lucilius was the inventor of satire among the 
Romans. Of his followers, Persius is censured for harshness and obscurity, and 
Juvenal is commended for his severe reprobation of a corrupt age, although his 
satires have more moral than poetical value. Lucretius, a didactic poet, already 
noticed, is an animated delineator of nature, full of strength and originality, but 
not without harshness and obscurity. Catullus WTOte lyric poetry, elegies, and 
epigrams. He had much real wit and fine feeling, disfigured by indecency. The 
purer and more graceful wwks of Tibullus give him the first rank among elegiac 
poets. 



368 ANCIENT LITERATURE. 

With the age of Augustus and the loss of Hberty, a new spirit appeared in 
Roman literature. Augustus himself and Msecenas were the patrons of poetic 
talent. Accordingly, the poetry which follows, has the faults of patronized 
poetry. It is marked by superior elegance and polish, but wants the freedom and 
force w^hich is only developed under the auspices of liberty. 

Virgil, the favourite poet of Augustus, is, in general excellence, the first of his 
nation. His JEneid, although left in so imperfect a state that the poet himself 
directed it to be destroyed, is a successful imitation of a model which could not 
be equalled. His Georgics are more perfect as compositions, and, in a highly 
finished style, exhibit a true poet's views and feelings respecting rural life. The 
instructions which they contain in agriculture were of inestimable value to his 
countrymen. His earlier Eclogues manifest the same love for nature and a 
country life. As Virgil is the greatest epic, so Horace is undoubtedly the first 
lyric poet among the Romans. Those of his odes which are founded upon 
national subjects, discover strong patriotic feelings expressed in a manner becoming 
a Roman. His satires, epodes, and epistles, are full of playful ease and graceful 
versatility. Ovid is remarkable for fertility of invention, graphic description, and 
eloquence of style. His Metamorphoses are injudiciously thrown into the epic 
form, but possess great merit in the execution. His Fasti, the most characteristic 
and national of his works, are poetical descriptions of the Roman festivals. Of 
the later poets we have only space to notice Lucan, who returned to the historical 
epic, in his Pharsalia. With striking defects of plan, and much unworthy adula- 
tion, he sometimes exhibits great elevation of sentiment, vigour of expression, and 
happy delineation of character. 

In jurisprudence alone can Roman literature boast entire originality, and an 
elevation which it has maintained down to the latest times, and which has en- 
abled it to exert a powerful influence on all the nations of modern Europe.* This 
department will be treated in a future chapter, including the reign of Justinian. 
The later Roman writers, and the whole literature of Northern Europe, belong to 
the period of the Middle Ages.f 

* Encyclopedia Americana. 

t The reader who is desirous of accurate and extended information on the history of an- 
cient literature, can find whole libraries of works in various languages in which the subject ia 
treated. Besides the learned treatises of Eichhorn, Wachler, and La Harpe, there are 
popular manuals, like those of Eschenberg, Anthon, Lempriere, and others, in which notices of 
the ancient writers occur. Every encyclopedia has an article on the subject; and in the Lec- 
tures on the History of Literature, by Frederick Schlegel, it is treated systematically. 



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